


Remark

by Sicklysnazzy



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Detroit Police Department (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Revolution, Reader-Insert, Sassy Reader, Slow Burn, Violence, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-08-08 11:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sicklysnazzy/pseuds/Sicklysnazzy
Summary: You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The chapters do get longer I promise and other than that I really got nothing to say other than I hope you enjoy and I try to update weekly! have fun!

Tension was high, your gun wavered as your eyes darted between your partner, Gavin and the deviant that was pointing a gun to his head.

When you arrived to this abandoned building you both thought you weren’t going to find anything, but as it turns out the deviant was hiding and when you found it, chaos ensued. After it kicked you down Gavin tried shooting it but being an android, it dodged the bullet quite easily. The deviant quickly disarmed you by kicking your gun away and when you went out to reach for it, the deviant must of grabbed Gavin’s gun and pointed it to his head, waiting for you to turn around and accept what outcome you would have to make.

A minute goes by without a word being said. Sweat runs down your face and the deviant silently shifts from heel to heel, while Gavin gives you a pleading stare. Finally you gather the courage to talk the deviant out of this situation.

“Hey hey, you don’t need to do this, I’m not here to hurt you. We we’re just startled because you attacked us.” You had to make sure you sounded comforting so you didn’t stress the deviant out. “If you put the gun down and give my partner back, no one will hurt you. I give you my word.”

The deviant seem to weight it’s options, as it looked at Gavin then you. The deviant then spoke in a low, shakily voice, “Put your gun down and then I’ll give him back.”

“Okay,” You said, “I’ll put my gun down but you have to come with us.” You watched as the deviant stiffened and shake it’s head. You sighed internally as you realized that you would have to let the deviant go in order to keep Gavin alive.

“I’m going to put my gun down, you drop your gun and give my partner back and I’ll let you go.” After you said this, you slowly put your gun in its holster and raised your hands. The deviant nodded and pulled the gun away from Gavin’s face and drop it, making Gavin flinch from the loud thud. The arm that was wrapped around Gavin slowly put away. Gavin buckled under his own weight and fell to the floor, and the deviant fled from the scene. Running to Gavin, you pulled him off the floor and forced him to look you, with his eyes glazed over he tried to give a small smile to lighten the mood but it was obvious he was in a state of shock.

You quickly made the decision to call backup and ask for paramedics. Both Gavin and you weren’t one to accept comfort from one another, but you knew this time he would need it. When you wrapped your arms around him he went stiff, though when he realized you weren’t going to move he hesitantly hugged you back. You didn’t move until you heard the loud sound of sirens outside.

Finally getting outside the building, we were rushed by the paramedics and officers. You gave over Gavin to the paramedics to check him over, while you went to inform the officers what happened. Already dreading the paperwork you’d have to fill out. After explaining what happened, you were called over by Gavin who was sitting on the back of the ambulance. When you reached them the paramedic that was standing beside Gavin spoke, “He’s in a state of shock and it’d be best if he wasn’t left alone.” The voice of the paramedic was calmed yet informative.

You raised a brow and questioned, “Alright, but what does that have to do with me?”

Before the paramedic could answer, Gavin already beat him to it, “Well I live alone and I don’t have any family close by so…” You sigh, already seeing where this is heading, “Could I crash at your place (Y/n)?”

You sigh again, you don’t want Gavin at your place. You can just barely handle him at work, how will you be able to handle him when his in your apartment making fun of your stuff and destroying your already messy rooms.

“Can’t you go to Tina’s?” You ask suggesting, Tina was a friend of to you and Gavin, but more so Gavin. You just knew her from working with Gavin.

Speaking of Gavin, he was giving you a look, which said ‘are you for real?’ you just stared blanking at him letting him know you were being serious. He cleared his throat and spoke in the asshole manner you were used to from him, “Tina’s place is far away from mine, and yours isn’t.”

Groaning and sighing at the same time, you motion for him to follow you, “Get in the car, we’ll go to your place first to get what you need.” You’re still very resistant of letting him sleep over the same roof as you but you decided you’d just have to get over it.

Luckily for the both of you, the rest of the night was uneventful. Surprisingly when you got to Gavin’s house he invited you inside, you don’t know exactly why you were surprised but you guessed it was because you were so used to him being a jackass that the thought of Gavin being polite was just a shock.

What was also shocking was the cute animal that was inside his house meowing when he opened the door. He probably had the cutest cat in the world. Its fur was sliver and it had the purest brown eyes you’d ever see. He gave it a few pats and then disappeared into a hall to get what he needed, leaving you and the cat to get to know each other. You let it sniff you and then brushed its fur, curious about its name you called to Gavin asking what its name is.

“Her name is Pearl.” He called out from somewhere in his small house.

Before you could snoop around his house Gavin walked back into the living room holding a small bag in his arms. Gavin made sure there was enough food for Pearl and with a bit more petting to his cat, you both left his house and went back to your car.

The car ride was silent as you drove, making the air awkward, but luck was on your side because you were close to your apartment. While you were getting out of the car you told him that he would be sleeping on the couch, Gavin only nodded. You gave him a worried look, you were expecting him to making a rude joke about finally being able to sleeping with you or something like that.

You dropped your stuff onto the table of your apartment and pointed Gavin to the couch and showed him the bathroom. You told him that he could help himself to anything in your fridge. You were exhausted and ready to collapse. You both said your goodnights and without brushing your teeth or getting in pajamas you fell onto your bed and into a deep sleep, still dreading the paperwork you’d have to do tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sike i already got a couple of chapters done so boom! enjoy!

Because of a peaceful revolution, that happened almost a year ago now, Androids are now a new intelligent species. You never really minded Androids as long as they didn’t cause you any trouble. Gavin, on the other hand, has always been an asshole to them. You never really knew why, but you didn’t care to ask.

Even though you don’t have a problem with Androids, you did not want to work with this one.

When Captain Fowler called you into his office, you could only guess why he needed to see you. Out of all the reasons you guessed, you didn’t expect a new partner would be the reason why.

When you walked in, you’re eyes immediately went to the android in front of Fowler’s desk.

You were about to ask why Connor was here. Connor worked with Lieutenant Anderson, who you were familiar with. But when you took a closer look, you realized that this Android is not Connor.

The only thing that seemed to be different about this Android is the eye color. His eyes were a piercing icy blue. Though the beautiful color, his stare was just as icy as his eyes. All Androids were deviant now you used to think. Now you weren’t so sure.

“This is Rk900,” Fowler began, “he was sent here by Cyberlife to help with investigations.”

You glanced at the Rk900 before answering Fowler, “But we have Connor, why do we need another one?”

“That is because I am a upgraded model,” the Rk900 said emotionlessly, you noticed he had a slightly deeper voice than Connor. “I am better than my predecessor in every way. Unlike it, I am not designed to become deviant.” The way he said that almost proudly made a shiver crawl up your back.

Fowler gave the Rk900 a look before focusing back on you, “Yeah,” he paused awkwardly, “I want him to work with you and Gavin.”

“That’s an awful idea.” You hissed, while Fowler raised a brow, “Me and Gavin won’t be able to work with it. I don’t know if you knew, but we aren’t the friendliest with Androids.”

“Trust me (Y/n), I realize. I also realize that you two have been taking longer to complete an investigation, so I think he will benefit you both.” Fowler explained while you look at him shocked.

“Excuse me, Gavin could’ve died yesterday! Cut us a bit of slack!” You snapped.

Fowler’s reply was almost too calm which did nothing to stop the anger rising in you, “(Y/n), I’ve been planning this for months. I’ve given you plenty of time to pick up your act. You’re working with him.”

You said nothing, only glaring daggers at Fowler. “Now get out of my office.” He said also giving you a glare.

You decided you wanted to keep your job, so you stayed silent and as calmly as you could, which wasn’t very calm, walked out of his office. Instead of going back to your desk, you went to the break room to get a coffee and sooth your headache.

Sipping your scorching coffee, you sent Gavin a text telling him about the predicament you were in. a few minutes later, Hank walked into the break room. When you noticed he was there you called him over.

“Hey Hank, do you happen to have some booze? Advil will work too.” You really wanted this headache to subdue and you figured that Hank had some Advil for whenever he came into work hangover.

Hank snickered a bit, “Yeah, I gotta bottle, on my desk.” He gave a lazy motion to his desk and after you thanked him, you quickly found the Advil bottle he was talking about and took two.

When you looked over at your desk, you didn’t resist a groan from leaving your lips. The Rk900 was sitting at your desk, waiting for you. Now you really didn’t want to get back to work.

You decided to ask for some advice, turning to the Android working across from Hank’s desk. With a quick call to his name, Connor looked up to you.

“Anything you need Detective (L/n)?” He asked with a tilt of his head. You would’ve smiled at his puppy dog look on any other day, but today you were not in the mood.

Nodding you confessed, “I got a new partner, and he’s an Android, but he doesn’t seem to be deviant. I don’t want to work with him.”

Connor turned to where you were looking and hummed, “Maybe you and Gavin will warm up to him.”

You chuckled a bit, Connor was always so optimistic, “Alright Connor, thanks.” Connor smiled at the praise.

“Hey could you tell Hank that I wanna go drinking with him sometime soon. I’m gonna need it now that I have to deal with two assholes.” Connor nodded and you took it as a sign to leave, so you left Connor to his work and went over to the Rk900 sitting at your desk.

You really needed to think of a nickname to call him.

“So, are you finally done playing hooky? Or are you going to continue to leave me to sit here and do your work for you?” The Rk900 questioned.

“You know when you say it like that, it’s not actually a bad idea. I’ll leave you to it.” You remarked sarcastically while glaring.

The Rk900 got out of your seat and you gladly sat in it. Pointing to Gavin’s desk, you told him he could use it until Gavin came back and until you got a new desk for him.

Wanting to avoid any interaction with Rk900, you put in your earbuds and shuffled your playlist, quickly getting to the paperwork you were dreading yesterday.

Apparently, the Rk900 wasn’t lying when he said he was doing some of your paperwork. You found yourself kind of thankful.

After getting a few pages done, over your music you heard the Rk900 say something.

Turing down your music a bit, you asked if he could repeat what he said. Rk900 just gave you a disappointed look before repeating what he said.

“Why is Detective Reed not here?” he began curiously, “you said when he came back? How long with that take?”

Skeptic for his seeming concern for Gavin you gave him the facts, “Yesterday, we were tracking a deviant and the deviant held Gavin at gunpoint. He was in shock and he had to stay with me for the night. I took him back to his place this morning to recover.” Rk900 hummed in acknowledgement. “Gavin will probably be back tomorrow.”

After that exchange, you turned your music back up and got back to your work. Unable to focus, you looked back at the android across from you with only one question on your mind.

“What do you wanna be called?” You inquired, “I’m getting tired of calling you ‘the Rk900.’”

He gave you a confused look, like he wasn’t expecting to be asked that. Which brought some satisfaction to you, “I wasn’t given a name when I was assembled, whatever you choose will be fine.”

Now it was you’re turn to be shocked, why wouldn’t Cyberlife give him a name?

“Well I’m not good with choosing names but I’ll try to think of something.” You paused trying to rack your brain for a good name for this Android, “I know its not very creative but I could only think of ‘Nines.’”

He seemed to think for a moment and then nodded, “if that’s what you choose.” He said approvingly.

“Cool, you’re name is Nines then.” Satisfied with your question answered, you turned you attention back to your papers and worked with your music playing in your ears.

Hours had gone by without you or Nines saying a word to each other. He didn’t seem to be that bad when he didn’t talk to you or look in your direction.

You got up to get more coffee. While you pouring it, Nines walked up behind you, so when you turned around you jumped at the sudden intrusion of your personal space.

“What the hell Nines?! I almost spilled coffee all over myself.” You barked at him, while he just looked at you blankly.

“I was just informed of some new clues of one our cases and I find it best if we check it out immediately.” He stated plainly.

Groaning, you chugged your burning coffee, ignoring the pain that came from drinking something still very hot.

“Fine. Lets go.” You chucked the empty cup of coffee into the trash and started your way to your car with Nines at your heels.

“By the way, I’m only going because I wanna see how fast you work.” You said just making sure he knew why you were going.

With a ghost of a smile, Nines responded, “Of course Detective.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

“This is not what I was expecting.”

Nines gave a hum in agreement, unfazed by the bloody body on the floor of the both of you. It was a woman, laying face down in a pool of her own blood.

You’d been following a series of murders done by an android, but the case hasn’t made much progress because you and Gavin had no idea who the android could be. There haven’t been any eyewitnesses either.

Maybe Nines could find something you’d been missing.

Detective Collins was there to give you and Nines the briefing. This android usually drugged or knocked out its victims before killing them, like this android was in the show Dexter. But this time, there were signs of a struggle, which could mean that the android that did this could be a copycat killer. The struggle was the only thing that was different this time.

You quickly got to work, examining the area with a focused look. The evidence was marked and you took your time looking at each one.

The weapon that was used to kill the victim was not present, it was probably with the killer. Though the weapon wasn’t there it was pretty obvious that it was a knife. Considering the precise stabs in the victim and the way the blood pooled.

You watched in disgust as Nines took two fingers and licked the blood of the victim, “You know you didn’t have you do that. Its not hard to figure out that’s her blood.”

Nines gave you a deadpan look, “I was testing her blood to see if there is any form of drug in her system.”

“Okay, sorry mister smartass.” You glared, “didn’t know I had to be totally hunky dory with putting blood in your mouth.”

Nines did nothing to answer you, he seemed to be focused on something behind you. Finding nothing there when you turned to look.

“What is it now?” You said, clearly annoyed.

“There’s some dried Thirium on the floor here.” Nines pointed to the spot where the invisible blue blood is.

“Holy shit Nines!!” You rejoiced, you knew that Nines would find something you wouldn’t! “Well? Sample that shit and lets find this fucker!”

You were beyond ecstatic! After weeks of empty leads, and stressful nights, you finally got something good!

“The blood is from a AP700 model, its serial number is #419 114 189.” You groaned. The AP700 models came as both male and female, even different races. Because of the new laws, Androids were allowed to look anyway they want.

Just when you thought you were getting closer to finding the android that was doing this.

“The deviant is a male android but the picture was taken when the android laws were first put into place. This android is still wearing its uniform, though it doesn’t have a LED.” Nines said as monotone as ever.

“Come on Nines, give me something to work with. Anything.” You knew that their had to be something you could use to track down this android, or maybe it was just wishful thinking.

Nines’ LED blinked a blue and yellow before answering you, “the deviant has blonde hair instead of the usual light brown.”

You sighed, all you had to work with was a hair color. Fine. At least its better than nothing.

“Detective (L/n)? It’s getting very late. I advice you to go home and get rest, because you are human you tired easy and are unable to keep working without sleep.” Nines stated.

He had to shove his superiority in your face didn’t he?

Despite his words, he was right. You were tired and worn from the last few days you’d had.

You were about to leave the scene before you realized something, “Do you need me to drive you anywhere?”

Nines looked confused for a spilt second before returning to his usual bitch face, “Detective I don’t need your help getting to where I need to go.”

You nodded, you were ready to get far away from this headache inducing android.

Leaving Nines by himself, he looked around the crime scene to gather more evidence. He looked at all the information from all the reports you and Gavin made about this killer. The dates of the killings were sporadic and irregular. The AP700 that was doing this obviously left nothing behind, but this time the AP700 was sloppy.

What could be the motive of this Android? Nines asked himself. Perhaps this Android wanted to kill humans for mistreating Androids. All the victims were human, his theory could be correct.

Nines walked into the bathroom of this hotel room, trying to find more information. The bathroom was what you’d except from a cheap hotel. It was grimy and disgusting.

He found nothing the bathtub and moved to the sink. Aside from a couple cockroaches he found nothing. Nines open the medicine cabinet and smirked.

Jackpot.

You walked pass the receptionist with fury in your step. Why the hell had Nines called you so early in the morning was beyond you. He interrupted your sleep that he recommended. Was he just trying to piss you off?

What you didn’t expect to see was Nines and Gavin talking. Gavin was oddly calm with an android that looked exactly like Connor. Nines said something that made Gavin almost fall out of his seat from laughter. You couldn’t hear what Nines said but you could easily hear Gavin’s obnoxious laughter.

You rolled your eyes and walked up to the pair, “Alright assholes stop laughing and tell me why the hell you woke me up at 5 in the morning.” You demanded.

“Nice to see you too sweet cheeks.” Gavin snarked.

“I’m sorry Detective (L/n), yesterday, after you left I found some evidence that we could use to find the killer.” Nines replied coolly.

Of course he did. I mean why not find something you didn’t, he always has to be better than you.

“So? What is it?”

“While searching the medicine cabinet, I happened to find diphenhydramine. Which is a drug that when fused with alcohol can cause the drinker to experience drowsiness, sedation, and trouble doing physical and mental tasks that require alertness. Making it easier to influence the drinker.” You and Gavin listened carefully while Nines explained.

“So did the AP700 use it on this victim?” You asked

“From the sample I took of the victim, no.”

“The other victims were drugged though.” Gavin piped in.

“True,” You added, “but how is this gonna help us find them?”

“Ah, that comes to my next point.” Nines acknowledged, “In most cases, diphenhydramine is a over the counter drug. But the bottle I found was prescribed to treat insomnia.”

“Meaning we can find the doctor that prescribed it.” Gavin finished and Nines nodded

“But why would an Android need a drug to help them sleep?” You questioned, “Androids don’t need to sleep.”

Nines, again nodded, “The best Androids can do is go into rest mode. To answer your question Detective, I do not know, the name of the person it was prescribed to was scratched off.”

“Why the hell would the android scratch off the person it was for and not the doctor they got it from?” Gavin said confused. Nines only shrugged

“Well we have a good start.” You said with a determined smile, “Lets go check this doctor out.”

You didn’t wait for your partner’s replies before you walked away and out to your car, with them quickly following behind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for the support! Love you all! and I told you the chapters get longer!

You pulled up to the doctor’s office that Nines had given you and quickly got out of the car. Gavin then opened the front door and went inside with Nines and you following.

Gavin walked up to the Android receptionist, and showed her his badge before talking, “Excuse me I’m Detective Reed. I’m from the Detroit Police Department, may we talk to Doctor Oni? We’d like to ask her some questions.”

The Android gave a polite smile and then responded, “Of course, I’ll go get her. Could you wait out here for a moment?”

Gavin gave a curt nod and then went to wait in one of the chairs of the children’s doctors’ office. It had to be a child that was taking the medication.

Five minutes of awkward silence passed, and then the door leading into the doctor’s office opened with the Android from before, and who you guessed was Doctor Oni.

She was short with black curly hair and black eyes. Her ebony skin was a harsh contrast between her stark white doctors jacket. Her eyes scanned the three of you, taking you all in.

Nines was the one to break the silence, “Doctor Oni, if you won’t mind, we have a couple questions to ask you.”

“Which one of your patients have you prescribed diphenhydramine to treat insomnia?” Nines handed the medicine bottle to Doctor Oni.

You and Gavin were sitting in Doctor Oni’s office while Nines was standing. Doctor looked over the bottle, “this looks like Mason Gibbons’ bottle, but I need to make sure.”

She typed a bit on her computer and turned it around to you all. It was a history of when her patients picked up a new bottle of medicine. 

“This file is for Mason Gibbons.” Said Doctor Oni.

Nines touched the computer screen and took in the information, quickly going through all the dates. His LED blinking a steady yellow, Nines pointed to one date: 8/17/39

“There, it’s a match to the date labeled on the bottle”

You picked up the bottle and looked, sure enough, the dates were the same. A slight feeling of happiness went through you before jealousy settled in. Nines was always better than you.

“Thank you Doctor Oni,” Gavin thanked, “that is all we need.” 

All three of you were back in your car with Gavin in the passenger seat and Nines in the back. 

“That was successful.” Nines said bluntly. 

“I have my bets on the AP700 being the Gibbons’ android.” Gavin exclaimed.

“But androids are free now.” You retorted, “Why would it still be with the Gibbons?” It seemed that whenever you finally found an answer to a question, a new question would take its place.

“I do not know, but we can find out.” Nines said with a smirk that he has been increasingly getting better at making. “I have their address after all.”

Both you and Gavin whipped your head to look at Nines, “When and where did you get that?!” 

Nines raised a brow at you both, “When I was going through at the dates, I also found their address, the names of Mason’s parents, medical record, and health insurance.”

“No fucking way!” Gavin said surprised.

“That’s illegal dickwad.” You sighed. 

Nines gave you and Gavin a stare that you knew meant ‘I know, and I don’t care’. 

“Whatever.” You began, “We’ll go to the Gibbons’ house after we eat. Its lunchtime and because someone called me in so early, I never got to eat breakfast.” You glared harshly at Nines sitting in the backseat. 

With your head turned back to the steering wheel you could feel the eye roll Nines had done. You chose to ignore it. You then pulled away from the doctor’s office and headed to the nearest fast food joint.

While you were ordering your food, you completely forgot that Nines didn’t need to eat anything, and right before you were going to order a burger for him you conveniently remembered. 

You looked at the table that Gavin and Nines were sitting at and thanked yourself that you just saved yourself embarrassment.

You brought back Gavin’s and your food. You got Gavin a burger with bacon in it, when you first became partners you quickly learned it was his favorite. You just got yourself a cheeseburger.

“You owe me eight bucks.” You told Gavin, when he groaned you glared at him.

Gavin murmured as he slammed a ten-dollar bill onto the table, “That’s all I have.”

You picked it up sweetly, “It’ll do, but a twenty would have been better.” You giggled. 

While you bantered with Gavin, Nines watched with amusement in his eyes. He couldn’t help from thinking that you and Gavin had a very interesting relationship. Nines knew that you both were only joking when you insulted each other. Seeing the two of you joke around made something deep in him, yearn for something.

He sat up straighter, disgusted with himself. He was a machine only designed to complete a mission, not to become a deviant like his predecessor. ‘I’m better than that.’ He told himself, but still the feeling deep inside stuck to him.

Nines suddenly noticed that you and Gavin got quieter and focused on the word you were saying.

“Gavin you don’t need to worry, I promise nothing like that will happen again.” You spoke in a kind matter.

Nines had only known you for almost two days, but he could already tell that you weren’t one to reassure and soothe. He thought it was best to not interrupt this rare moment with your partner.

After your kind words, silence settled in. Gavin ate his food and you ate yours, Nines only watched. A sudden question came to Nines mind and he saw no reason not to ask it.

“Why did you and (y/n) become partners?” Nines asked. 

Gavin looked up from his burger, his face stuffed full with food. Before Gavin could answer, however, you hooked your arm around Gavin’s neck and smooshed your cheek against his.

“Because I was the only one that could handle him.” You sung as Gavin was struggling to get you away from him. 

“Get off of me!” Gavin elbowed you in the stomach and you coughed then you erupted with boisterous laughter. A couple of people and androids looked at the three of you.

Moments later, you calmed down and looked at Gavin and Nines. Gavin had his arms folded and was pouting like a baby. Nines was staring at you with an actual smile on his face. You were surprise to see Nines looking almost happy.

The three of you decided it was better to get going, after your outbursts you doubt you would be wanted in the restaurant much longer.

When you got back into your car, you had Nines put in the Gibbons’ house address and with that exchange you had pulled away from the fast food joint and off to catch a deviant. 

Minutes into the drive, you realized that no one was going to talk to each other, so at a stoplight you turned on your radio and used an aux cord to play the music you wanted.

You smirked when Bohemian Rhapsody started playing. In the rear view mirror you could see Nines’ LED blink yellow as you and Gavin sung your hearts out to the famous song.

The car ride went quickly from there. You were surprised to turn into the rich neighborhood. You were expecting a gross old neighborhood. 

Right when Don’t Stop Believin by Journey started playing, you stopped the car because you had turned into the driveway of the Gibbons’ house.

You slid out of the car and walked up to the brick house. The house was two stories, it had a nice green lawn in front of the house. It looked like the perfect house to raise children.

You walked up the steps to the porch with Gavin in front of you and Nines behind you. Gavin rang the doorbell then stepped back. You were antsy and were bouncing from heel to heel.

The door opened and standing in the doorway was a lady, she was dressed in blue jeans and a striped shirt with her blonde hair in a pony tail. She looked at all of you and then spoke in a kind but curious tone, “May I help you?”

You stayed silent as Gavin explained, “Mrs. Gibbons, I’m Detective Gavin Reed and these are my partners, Detective (l/n), and Nines.” Gavin pointed to the two of you when he said your names.

“We believe that your android is a prime suspect in one of our cases and we’d like to investigate.” Gavin finished. Whatever Mrs. Gibbons was expecting Gavin to say was certainly not that, as she looked shocked.

“Yes, of course, come right in. Noah is right inside.” Noah. You finally had a name for the android you were looking for all this time. But did it have to be so plain?

Mrs. Gibbons moved away from the center of the door, inviting you in, you graciously step inside after Gavin.

Inside the house was just as inviting as the outside. Right when you walked inside, to your right there were stairs heading upstairs and to your left there was a room that had children toys scattered around with handmade drawings and buckets of overflowing toys, probably a playroom.

Right in front of you was a hallway that Mrs. Gibbons let you, Nines, and Gavin through, which leaded to the living room. Mrs. Gibbons gestured to the light grey couch where the three of you sat. Across from you Mrs. Gibbons sat on the loveseat that was separated by a glass coffee table. It was decorated with homework papers, pencils, and books.

“Would you mind getting Noah please?” You asked kindly, “We’d like to speak to you both.”

Mrs. Gibbons quickly nodded and rushed into another room, leaving the three of you to think.

“This does not seem like the kind of place for a murderer to be.” Nines stated. Gavin shrugged in response while you said nothing in return.

Your eyes searched the living room, taking in every detail. The room was modern and bright. A few painting hung on the walls and there were pictures framed on top of the mantel, nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed.

You heard Mrs. Gibbons’ returning footsteps along with another, more lighter pair of footsteps. You whirled your head to the doorframe where Mrs. Gibbons and a blonde haired AP700 stood. Noah.

The air around immediately tensed up, but if Noah was scared he showed no sign of it. Everyone was quiet as Mrs. Gibbons went back to the loveseat and Noah sat in a cozy chair next to the it.

“Hello Noah,” Nines greeted with his blank stare, “My name is Nines, and these are my partners. We came to ask you some questions if you don’t mind.” The way Nines had said that made it seem more like a statement and not a question. It was honestly a bit unsettling.

“Of course, ask away.” Noah responded coolly.

“Mrs. Gibbons, how long have you had Noah?” Gavin questioned, without wasting time.

“We got him a few months before the revolution.” Mrs. Gibbons answered shortly.

“Do you have a son named Mason, Mrs. Gibbons?” You asked politely.

She nodded, “yes, I do. I have three daughters and one son. They’re all at school at the moment.” You smiled at her.

“Androids are free now and allowed to do whatever they want. Why is Noah still with you?” Nines had asked.

This time, Noah answered the question, “Well the children had gotten attached and so have I, it just felt rude to leave them, so I stayed and became part of the family.” He pointed to his blonde hair.

“Noah.” Nines said, “What is your model serial number?”

Noah tensed up a bit but relaxed after a second, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed to the three of you, “My model is AP700, serial #419 114 189.” You gave Nines and Gavin a look. It was the same number Nines had told you when he sampled the blue blood.

“Have you gotten an injury lately, Noah?” You said getting increasingly more confident about this. But you knew not to raise your hopes too high.

“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t.” He lied smoothly while smiling. Nines eyebrows furrowed, while Gavin razed a brow, and you looked at Noah blankly.

“Right.” Gavin said. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the medicine bottle. Mrs. Gibbons made an audible gasp and Noah got tense as his smile faltered. You were sure if android could sweat, Noah would be sweating like a sinner in church.

“Mrs. Gibbons?” Nines began. “Does your son take Benadryl to help him sleep?”

Mrs. Gibbons nodded, “ Yes, usually Noah goes to the pharmacist to pick up new bottles.” Even now, Mrs. Gibbons was giving her android side glances.

Noah had visibly become more nervous and was anxiously tapping his fingers on the armchair. You would have thought that an android would be good at concealing his emotions. It was almost too easy.

“Noah,” Gavin started, “we’d like to take you in fo-“ Before Gavin could finish, however, Noah had leaped from his seat and broke a glass door that lead to the balcony and backyard. Quickly making an escape.

Without delay, Nines had gone after Noah, taking the same path he had. He hopped over the backyard fence with his eyes locked on Noah sprinting ahead.

You raced through the house and burst open the front door only to find Noah and Nines darting out of the neighborhood. It would have been a funny sight if you weren’t trying to catch him.

Nines was quickly catching up to Noah one step at a time. He was designed to be faster, designed to never fail a mission. His legs pumped as he followed every turn and twist Noah pulled.

Noah led him into a busy street where cars zoomed past each other without second thought. Noah didn’t falter as he weaved through the wide road. Occasionally stopping for a second to let a car pass as to not get ran over. Nines didn’t stop either. It wouldn’t have mattered if he had gotten hit, he could always come back. All that mattered is completing his mission. Nines didn’t even stop to let cars pass, he would jump over them if he needed to.

After they passed the highway, they were faced with the more grungy side of Detroit. Noah raced into an alleyway and climbed up the fire escape of the building. Nines was only a few steps behind.

When you saw Nines and Noah make their way out of the neighborhood you knew you couldn’t catch them on foot. Before you could turn back to your car, Gavin had already pulled up right next to you. Without wasting any time, you jumped into the passenger seat and turned on the police lights in your car, quickly following behind. 

You were right in front of the building that Nines and Noah climbed, and before Gavin had parked your car, you ran into the building. You found the stairs in a rush and hurried up them to the roof, your heart pounding in your ears.

When you opened the roof door you were surprised to find Nines and Noah fighting hand to hand. You stood frozen as Noah punched Nines square in the nose. Immediately making blue blood flow from it. 

The impact made Nines stagger, and when Noah tried to reach for the place where Nines’ core biocomponet was, you grabbed your gun, turned off safety and shot Noah in the foot. 

Noah reeled back, whipping his head to you. The small window when he was looking at you allowed Nines to tackle Noah, bring him and the concrete of roof face to face. Nines’ face was laced with complete determination as he held Noah’s arms behind his back.

You took out handcuffs and darted to them to attach the handcuffs to Noah. When you tightened them Gavin came bursting through the roof door, panting.

“I heard gunshots. I came fast as I could.” Gavin told you with wide eyes.

“We’re fine Gavin.” You reassured. 

The loud sirens of polices cars made everyone turn to watch as police started rolling in, around the building you were on top of. You guessed the sight of two androids running after each other would cause a few people to call the police.

Nines yanked Noah of the ground and he groaned. Nines forced Noah, who was limping, back down the stairs and off to be questioned, which you would have to attend.

“That was fucking tiring.” Gavin said looking at you. “Let’s never do that again.”

You snorted, “No promises buddy.” You gave him a playful wink before following after Nines back downstairs.

When you made it back onto the ground, you tried to avoid the new reporters that had already arrived. Gavin was always better with dealing with the public. Doing so caused you to run into a chest.

You let out a string of curse word before looking up to see Nines starting at you with his nose still gushing.

“You okay Nines?” You asked with a tit of the head.

“Of course I am Detective, have you forgotten I cannot feel pain?” Nines questioned rhetorically.

You rolled your eyes, and grabbed his arms, pulling him towards your car. You let go of his arm after you opened the door and leaned into your car, searching for tissues. 

“What are you doing Detective?” Nines craned his head trying to figure out what you were doing. When you stood up fully and whipped around, Nines took a step back to give you personal space.

“I’m cleaning the blood off you, isn’t it obvious?” You shook the tissue you grabbed for emphasize.

Nines’ brow furrowed in confusion, “Detective, the blood will become invisible in a few hours, I don’t need you to clean it for me.”

“Just shut up and let me do this.” You narrowed your eyes. 

Nines gave in and you gently started dabbing the tissue under his nose. The tissue quickly soaked up the blue blood, Nines looked over your face while you were busy cleaning him up. He didn’t try to scan you for information, he just simply took in all the details of your face. He did this until you finished wiping all the blood off his face.

You took a step back looking at your handy work. A smile reached your face, “There, all better.” You patted Nines’ shoulder and turned to leave to talk to the other police officers.

As you left, Nines couldn’t stop the strange feeling of yearning return deep inside him. He kept pushing the feeling down, trying to bury it. After he finally got control of himself, he too went to go report what happened.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

Even though the sun was setting and the moon was rising, indicating another workday over, you had no intent of leaving. You couldn’t leave until you finished interrogating Noah. Which was exactly what you were doing, or rather, what Gavin was doing. You and Nines were behind the two-way mirror, watching intently as Gavin squeezed answers out of Noah.

“I find it ineffective to let Detective Reed to conduct this interrogation. It would be much easier if I were to do it.” Said Nines, turning to you.

Not even sparing him a glance, you keep your eyes straight ahead, watching Gavin. “Cut it out Nines. Just because you’re an android doesn’t mean you have to shove your greatness down everyone’s throats. Gavin is a good cop, let him do what he needs to.”

Nines turned his focus back to Noah and Gavin in the other room. If he did feel emotion he would of felt hurt by your words.

“So,” Gavin started, “you gonna tell us why you killed those people?”

Noah stayed silent for a bit before answering in a small, defensive tone, “I wanted to.”

Gavin made a ‘tsk’ sound and rolled his eyes.  
“Why’d you scratch Mason’s name of the medicine bottle?”

Noah looked at Gavin through his eyelashes before mumbling, “Get rid of evidence.”

Gavin almost laughed. Noah was so sloppy but so smart, “You forgot to scratch off the doctor’s name.”

Noah seemed to sink into himself even more than before. He looked ashamed. Nines was monitoring Noah’s stress levels carefully, watching it rise as Gavin spoke.

“Ya know if you just confess this would be over so much more quickly.” Gavin raised a brow, “But you won’t, coward.”

“All the victims were female, did you wanna get freaky with a human before killing them?” Gavin smirked as Noah started quivering. Gavin was good at playing the bad cop, and coaxing the confession didn’t seem the way to go this time.

“That’s what the medicine was for, right? Drop it in the lady’s alcohol, then take them away and kill them.” Gavin looked comfortable and calm, leaning back in the chair of the interrogation room, while Noah looked the opposite, shaking and fighting against the handcuffs on the table.

“I-” Noah’s voice wavered, “I didn’t- do that to them when I did it.” Noah was avoiding Gavin’s gaze.

“Ah, right of course.” Gavin said with sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Then what did you do?”

Noah looked at Gavin before tucking his head back down and closing his eyes, “I thought it was the easiest way to kill. I- ever since I became deviant my emotions were too much to handle. I couldn’t understand anything I felt, but I wanted to feel everything.”

Gavin gave a motion for Noah to continue. “One day, my emotions were uncontrollable and I killed someone. The feeling I felt was indescribable but I felt better. So whenever my emotions were too much I just resorted to killing. I-I got addicted.”

“What about the last victim? Why didn’t you drug her?” Gavin questioned.

“I didn’t- I wanted the feeling to leave, I wanted to go away, I didn’t have the patience to drug her and take her away. I just needed the feeling to go away.” A few tears escaped Noah’s eyes and fell on his cheek.

“Why was there blue blood at one of the crime scenes?”

“She was struggling to escape and she elbowed me in the nose. I didn’t know some got on the floor.” Noah said, stuttering.

You stood behind the glass, taking in all the information that was just spilled. Did all deviants feel this? Or was this the first time something like this happened? So overcome with emotions that they kill someone.

“I’m done here.” Said Gavin, standing up from the chair. “Put him into the temporary cells until we contact the Gibbons.”

Gavin walked out of the interrogation room and Officer Miller walked in, quickly taking off the handcuffs on the table and putting proper ones on. Easily taking Noah to a cell. Noah’s head was held low, but when he saw you and Nines he glared in your directions before being pushed by Chris.

“I’m so ready to go to bed.” You said to no one in particular. “Today has dragged on forever.”

“One day is exactly 24 hours. I do not see how today could have been more than that.” Nines said flatly.

Gavin snorted, while you gave both of them a deadpan look.

“Its uh- you know what forget about it.” You huffed. “I’m going home, so if you need anything, don’t ask me.” You whipped yourself in the direction of the exit of the department and flipped Nines and Gavin off while you were leaving.

It was almost midnight when you got back to your apartment. When you closed your door and scanned your lonely apartment your stomach made and awful grumbling sound and you sighed. You haven’t eaten anything since lunch with Nines and Gavin.

Pulling open your cabinet, you made yourself cereal. While pouring the milk only a few drops left the carton. You sighed, and threw the empty milk carton away. You got pulled into your thoughts while eating the dry cereal.

You felt lonely in your bare apartment, you were only one person, and thus you didn’t need a lot of space, leaving some parts of your apartment undecorated and bare. You even have one completely empty room that you don’t know what to do with. Gavin could’ve taken that room when he slept over, but there was no bed in that room. He would’ve been even more uncomfortable than sleeping on the couch.

Finishing the cereal, you put it in the sink and tiredly got undressed. You undid the gun holster that rested across your hips, and threw it somewhere on the floor, along with the rest of your clothes.

Although the weather was getting colder you decided against putting on pajama pants and only put on an oversized t-shirt.

Finally getting into bed, you let the soft cozy blankets engulf you into a warm embrace. Despite yourself, your body had no intension to get rest, as you lay tangled in the blankets. Millions of thoughts swarmed your brain. You tried to dismiss them but to no avail.

Ultimately, you determined you would have to do something about your restlessness. In your bathroom, you found some sleeping pills to make you drowsy. Before going back to sleep you picked up a hardback book to read, until the pills kicked in.

Paper books were more expensive and old technology but that didn’t stop you from buying and borrowing them from Hank. It was something you both had in common and something you bonded over when you first started working at the department.

You and Hank would borrow each other’s books, and when you finished them, you would give them back. It wasn’t that you minded the new books on screens, it was that the paper book would remind you of when you were younger. The nostalgia would comfort you.

Crawling into bed, you opened the book to where the bookmark located and started reading the novel. You didn’t even get past one chapter before feeling of drowsiness overtook you. Finally falling into a deep sleep the book rested face down, rising up and down on your chest.

Only three hours had passed before you’d been woken up by your front door opening and closing. Very loud might I add, as the sleeping pills haven’t even worn off, making you even groggier.

In your sleepy state, you managed to grab your pistol off the floor and stumbled your way into the living room, not without cursing under your breath. If there were an intruder in your apartment, then you would have a hard time fighting them off. You doubt you would be able to aim your gun well but the feeling of the cool metal in your hand made you feel even the slightest bit safer.

“Detective (l/n)?” The unmistaken voice of Nines broke through the small apartment. You let out a breath of relief, lowering your gun down, letting it hit your thigh as you leaned your shoulder against your wall.

He was standing in the middle of your living room, right next to your coffee table. He was wearing his usual outfit. You had no idea why he didn’t wear anything more casual, but android fashion was beyond you.

“Why the hell did you break into my house?” You glared unforgivingly at the android.

“I’m sorry Detective, I was informed of a new case we should go to.” Nines spoke matter-of-factly.

You groaned obnoxiously, “Why couldn’t you go by yourself, or better yet, with Gavin?”

“Gavin kicked me out when I tried coming over, he said you would rather do it.” He explained.

“That prick.” You murmured under your breath, too low for Nines to hear you, “Fine.” You walked to your kitchen table and set your gun down, Nines following.

When you turned to look at him, you realized what you looked like in front of him. Your hair was messy and wild, you were sure you had bags under your eyes and you were only wearing a large shirt. You thanked whatever god that was up in the sky that the shirt you were sporting covered your ass.

You quickly got flustered and suddenly ran out of breath, your face going a pretty shade of pink. You decided to not further your embarrassment and didn’t comment on the fact you were nearly naked in front of your coworker. Instead, you only mumbled to Nines that you were going to get ready and raced to your bedroom.

Behind your door you let out a sigh. You were suddenly grateful for Nines professionalism, or that exchange would have been a lot more awkward.

Dismissing that situation, you quickly got dressed. Though not as quick as you hoped, as you were still exhausted and sleep deprived.

While you were doing your morning routine, Nines searched around your apartment. He took notice to your attire early on, but didn’t find the situation embarrassing. You were simply in your sleepwear, and there was nothing wrong with it. At least, that’s what he told himself. The other part of him, the same part of him that held the yearning feeling, found your body quite pleasing to look at.

You walked in on him while he was looking through your bookshelf. Nines had pulled out the classic fantasy novel, The Princess Bride, you always loved that one, not to mention the clever movie adaptation.

With a hint of a smile, you grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen to eat later in the car.

“Alright, ready?” You asked Nines. He put the book back and nodded. Regardless of your lack of sleep, you were pretty chipper, or it could just be the sleep deprivation talking. Still, you had Nines drive to the crime scene, also due to the fact that you had no idea where to go.

Nines had taken you to a large office building while giving the report. Apparently, there was a fight that broke out in the parking lot involving an android and human resulting, in the human’s death. Luckily a patrol car was around the area, quickly finding the scene.

The loud police lights were blinding you and the holographic police tape surrounded the building. You got out of your car and crossed the police tape, talking to your coworkers.

Nines had followed you, but instead of listening to the briefing, he started looking around. He first went to the corpse, and scanned it. He found the name of the victim, Samuel Lopez, and other basic information. He found the man had a criminal record, including sexual assault. Nines then searched for clues.

The victim had bruising on their stomach and neck, indicating that they were beaten and suffocated to death. He then noticed small cuts on their cheek, though that could be a result of being punched in the face. Judging by the fresh cuts he predicted that the fight happened not even an hour ago. He observed the fresh blue blood on the victim’s knuckles, where he took a quick swipe of the blood and analyzed it. Finding the android was a BL100, named Eva Long.

Nines searched the victim’s clothes, quickly finding that their wallet and any loose cash was still there. It seemed that Eva didn’t try to mug the victim.

Nines reconstructed the scene, finding what he predicted, the victim being punched in the face while fighting back, hitting the BL100 in the nose. Then the victim was strangled. They struggled but to no avail, Eva easily overpowered them.

He spotted some skid marks from shoes on the ground running away from the victim and he followed it out further into the parking lot. Nines took notice that there were still cars parked in the area. He went searching around the cars but found nothing. Eva could’ve escaped after what she did.

You were inspecting the corpse when Nines tapped on your shoulder. He told you what he found, and the familiar feeling of annoyance washed over you. His superiority was overwhelming, and it was getting on your nerves.

In spite of your feelings, you smiled and thought out loud, pitching your idea to Nines, “Well there are security cameras,” you gestured to the cameras on the ceiling, “we can look at those and find out where she went.”

You saw the corners of Nines’ lip twitch, like he was about to smile but decided against it. You followed Nines to the security camera closest to the area where the victim died. Nines climbed on top of a car that was close to the camera and he reached out to touch it. You guessed that Nines was connecting to the camera footage, but it still was a funny sight to witness. He stood in the awkward position for a couple of seconds before climbing back down the car, a pensive look on his face.

“So?” You question, “What happened?”

Nines looked up at you, his icy eyes bore into you, and they almost look full of emotion, not like his usual aloof and unfriendly manner. He cleared his throat and regained his composure, “The victim tried to sexually assault Eva while she was unlocking her car, but she fought back and killed him and then drove away. I didn’t see the direction she went. Though, I got the license plate.”

You heart sunk and you suddenly understood why Nines looked somber. “Okay, we can check the cameras outside. To find out where she went.”

Nines led the way to the exit of the parking lot and you swiftly found the camera that was outside. You noticed that there was no conveniently placed car for Nines to climb on and thought of ways to get up there. Nines was doing the same, he was preconstructing ways to get on top of the ledge.

Suddenly he turns to you, “Detective, I can get up there but I need a boost.”

You didn’t need Nines to explain to know what you needed to do. With a sigh, you took a knee and held out your hands. Quickly, Nines put one foot on your hands and then put his other in your hands. You speedily lifted your hands up. Successfully giving Nines a boost. He hoisted himself up and stood up at the ledge. Nines connected to the camera and after a couple seconds he jumped back down.

“I know where she went.” Nines didn’t waste anytime, he started walking to your car, and you had to pick up the pace to catch up to him. You got in the passenger seat and he drove a couple miles until he stopped on the side of the road.

You searched the area, and found a small vacant parking lot next to a rundown bar, not too far away. Only one car was in the parking lot, with a person with long black hair, with their head in their hands, leaned against the car. You had to guess that was Eva, or else Nines wouldn’t have stopped.

Your gut wrenched as you followed behind Nines, you didn’t want to do this. She was sexually assaulted and you sympathized with her. But the other side of you told you that she murdered someone, and that was a crime.

While your insides were battling with each other, Nines had crept his way into the parking lot. You followed, less sneakily.

“Eva Long,” Nines had started, making Eva’s head whip up. Dried tear streaks littered her face, and new tears had threatened to spill over. Fresh blue blood ran down her nose. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Samuel Lopez.”

A splash of terror and dread filled her face as she tried to flee by getting in her car. She was only able to get the car door open before getting pulled down by Nines.

You felt like the worse cop in the world when you were watching your partner getting beaten down by another android. You wanted to help Nines, but you also wanted to help Eva. You grudgingly decided to help Nines, you ripped Eva off Nines, and she turned her attention to you.

The panic was evident in her eyes as she swung her fists in your direction. You dodged all but one of her jabs, her fists in direct contact with your jaw, the force made a satisfying crunch. You gave out a violent lurch and fell backwards, the taste of iron blood filling your mouth, prevented you from letting out any curse words. The pain jolted through you.

You thought Nines had ran to your aid, his knees skid across the concrete, but he was only there to take your gun and point it directly at Eva. In your dazed state, you realized what was going to happen and you knew you had to stop it. Your head pounded as you grabbed Nines’ shoulder and yanked him down, right when he shot. The bullet hit the ground and ricocheted somewhere unknown.

You knew Eva had taken off by the sound of footsteps and the sound of a car, jolting into motion. Nines tried to go after her, but you tightened your grip on him, enabling him from moving. Nines finally got the hint and relaxed in your arms and you promptly let him go.

Connor usually got disappointed when he didn’t complete his mission, and that’s what you were expecting to happen with Nines. But you were unpleasantly surprised when you were met with a slap to the face. Now the other side of your face stung, and you were sure there was a harsh red handprint tattooed on your cheek, along with your already bruising jaw.

You spat the blood out of your mouth before screaming, “What the fuck Nines!!” You rose up to your full height with Nines following your actions.

“If you hadn’t pulled me down, we could have gotten her!!” Nines roared, he had lost his cool, instead of the icy cold eyes you were familiar with, you saw fury in his grey eyes.

“She was defending herself!!” your voice boar louder each word you spoke, the look in your eyes could kill anyone if they did so much as glance in your direction.

“She murdered someone and needed to be arrested!!”

“You wouldn’t understand, you can’t feel emotions anyway.” Your voice suddenly became venomous and low. “I’ll be in the car.” You said bitterly.

Nines stood there, his LED spinning, in the middle of an empty parking lot, registering what just happened. He was in full control when he was fighting Eva, up until he ran for your gun. He was trying to help you, to see if you were severely hurt, but he felt like he was forced to the back seat, when he instead grabbed you gun. Sure he doesn’t feel emotions, but when he saw Eva getting groped by the victim on the security camera, the other part of him told him otherwise. Surely, it couldn’t be anyone at Cyberlife, the Zen garden had been destroyed when Connor went deviant.

From all the evidences he’s collected he was convinced that emotions were a bad thing. They only led to heartache, and difficult situations and even more difficult solutions. What was he missing?

Nines ran a diagnosis and found nothing out the ordinary other than some minor software instability. He sighed and left the parking lot, making the walk back to the car. He saw you in the driver’s seat with your eyes narrowed and your arms crossed. He could hear the muffled sound of a song from all the way down the sidewalk.

The angry rock music spilled out the car when he opened the door, you didn’t even spare him a glance when he slid into the seat beside you. Turning the volume down, letting it become background music while you talked to him.

“Where do you live? I’m driving you home.” You said with venom laced behind your tone.

Nines looked at you, he looked customary, his body language was the same cold and rigid postured you remembered, but despite that, there was long-suffering was in his grey eye and the look he gave you almost made you go soft, but you stopped yourself at the last moment. Realizing the look he was giving you was probably forced and some sort of tactic to make you feel guilty.

“I don’t have a home, I’ve been staying at the department and work throughout the night.”

You certainly weren’t ready for that response as you squinted to see if he was serious. When he didn’t change his story you sighed and rubbed your temples.

A couple of minutes passed where neither one of you said anything. You were deciding what to do with Nines. While Nines was watching your face twist in different ways.

You finally turned back to Nines, your anger seem to dwindle and he was thankful for that.

“You can.” You paused, still contemplating your decision. “You can stay at my place until you find somewhere to stay.”

Nines had no problem with working at the department all night, but he nodded anyway. He didn’t like you angry, and he thought if he disagreed, you wouldn’t have taken kindly to that.

You turned the music back up to a blasting volume and started the drive back to your small apartment. You were no longer mad at him, only slightly salty that he had slapped you. But that still didn’t mean you wanted to talk to him.

After you had parked your car, you got out and told Nines to follow you. The air was awkward as you waited in the elevator. An eternity later, you made it to your door. Although Nines had already been inside your apartment, only two hours ago, he still scanned the area, taking mental notes of how the space is laid out.

You thank the heavens that today was Saturday, and you could be lazy the rest of the day. After you got some sleep, of course.

“I have an extra room, so you can sleep there once we get a bed in it, but for now, sleep on the couch.” You said. Then you scanned Nines up and down, “And for heavens sake, change your clothes. I’m tired of that damn uniform.”

Nines went to the couch and sat down, his eyes searching for details. You went to the kitchen and ate whatever fruit you found in your almost empty fridge.

“Detective (l/n)?” Nines called you from somewhere in the other room, and you advanced to wherever he was, with your bowl of fruit in your hands.

When you found Nines, you were surprised, to say the least. You almost dropped your bowl. In the center of you living room, stood Nines, completely shirtless, with his android jacket in his hands.

Your face immediately went pink as you searched his body shamelessly. You could see the outline of the cylindrical pump regulator below his sternum, outlined in a soft blue light. Small moles and freckles were dotted all over his body, to make him appear more human. You didn’t think of Nines in any other way than a coworker. You were barely even friends, but you had to admit that Cyberlife did a great job designing his body.

“I don’t know where to put my clothes, and where I should get new ones.” Nines had noticed your eyes roaming his body, but decided to act innocent.

You cleared your throat and spoke, having a hard time averting your eyes from his chest. “Don’t worry, I’ll take them.”

Nines handed you the clothes and you bolted away. You threw his clothes into the wash machine. Then you ran to your room, in search of a new shirt, for the shirtless android in your living room.

You pulled out a large red shirt that you found in the men’s section, while shopping one day. Deciding it was good enough, you threw it at Nines from the hallway. The shirt flew and landed on his face. He pulled it off himself and inspected it, before putting the red shirt on.

While he was getting comfortable, you found a warm blanket in your hallway closet, the same blanket Gavin had used a few days prior.

Your face had finally gone back to its normal color and you gave the blanket to Nines. He looked at you, confused

“You know I don’t need sleep, right?”

You rolled your eyes before answering, “I know, but you deserve a break.”

Nines looked at the blanket and then back at you. When he didn’t say anything you spoke up again.

“I’m going to get some more sleep, you can stay here and watch movies, or go into rest mode. Do whatever you want.” You let a rare smile crawl upon your face. “When I wake up, we can get you new clothes.”

You turned around, but before you could head to your room, Nines replied

“Thank you Detective (l/n).” Nines said gratefully.

You stood there, with your back turned to Nines, pondering what to say. After a few seconds, you turned you head and in a soft voice you answered.

“Just call me (y/n).” Before Nines could say anything else, you already traveled to your room and shut the door. Leaving Nines to look where you last stood.

“As you wish, (y/n).” Nines whispered.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support! all the updates are all caught up so now there will be weekly updates

Waking up was not an easy task, for both androids and humans. Before and during the revolution, androids didn’t need to sleep, but since then, Cyberlife have given updates to androids to make them “more human” if you will.

These updates go out to every android much like a phone update. You can choose to decline the installment, or you can go through with it. Although, most deviants choose the latter, the updates mostly include sensory, such as, the ability to feel the textures of what androids touch, the ability to smell, and to be able to go to sleep. Not like a rest mode, but actually getting rest for the next day. Sadly, androids won’t be able to taste things, Cyberlife would have to manually change every androids’ inner anatomy to fit the ability to eat.

What Cyberlife can do, however, is give androids genitalia. Of course, Sex androids don’t need such upgrades.

Cyberlife has purposely avoided giving Nines these updates. They want Nines to remain a machine as much as possible, giving him these updates would cause software instability, thus making it easier for him to deviate.

So there Nines was, for five hours, on your couch, waiting for you to wake up. He had already looked around your house once, so he found no need to do it again. Instead, he put on a couple of your movies while waiting. Nines didn’t admit it to himself, but he was looking forward to going shopping with you.

When you finally did wake up, you found Nines had barely moved from the spot where you last saw him. The only thing different was the blanket spread out on his lap.

You dropped yourself next to the android. You felt infinitely better, now that you gotten more sleep.

“So, new roommate, you gonna help pay rent?” You nudge Nines’ shoulder and he tilts his head, in the same manner that Connor does, but with Nines, it’s less cute because of his permanent bitch face.

“If that’s what you want me to do, (y/n).” You weren’t prepared for Nines to call you by your first name, as you stared at him in momentary shock. Needless to say, your name sounded good on his lips.

“Nah man, it’s fine. Just help me clean and I’ll be good. Focus on getting enough money for your own place.” After a couple seconds, you continued, “But don’t expect me to buy your clothes and bed today. You’re getting that yourself.”

“Of course Detective-(y/n).”

You gave him a reassuring smile, after noticing his mistake. Then something dawned on you, androids don’t make mistakes, but deviants do. Could Nines be a deviant? You knew it wasn’t possible, but he could be on that rode. Each day, it seemed he was acting more and more human. Just a couple hours ago, you’d seen Nines’ eyes full of emotion.

A devilish smirk reached your face, right there, on your couch, you had decided that you were going to do anything in your power to make Nines deviate. You’d love to be a nuisance to Cyberlife. What were they expecting to happen? For Nines not to deviate?

You made it your mission to make Nines deviate, and now you needed a plan.

You figured you’d make the plan later, and not keep staring at the coffee table in front of you, like some kind of crazy person.

Once you were out of your apartment complex, you and Nines had made an uneventful trip to your car. Promptly following an equally uneventful car ride, only consisting with small talk.

You arrived to a small shopping district that you frequently visit to buy clothes. The area was nice and most of the prices were cheap, perfect for someone that doesn’t have tons of money.

The artistic brick of the sidewalk was pleasing as you window-shopped with Nines. The whole area was a great aesthetic that you had no problem with.

Your nose and cheeks were quickly turning rosy, due to the autumn weather. Even with the coat you were wearing, the cold air broke through your layers. Luckily, Nines had stopped in front of a store, looking at the manikins in the window. Wordlessly, Nines had entered the store. Realizing his disappearance, you had stumbled into the store after him, moving a great deal clunkier than the elegant android.

With your eyes roaming the clothing racks, and accessories, you located Nines in the back right corner. You jogged to him and discovered why he ran into this store.

Nines was holding a neat, folded piles of three different turtlenecks. One was black, another light grey, and one navy blue, the same turtleneck that one of the manikins in the window was wearing.

He turns to you, with the same irked gaze he always wears.

“I want these.”

You blink stupidly at him. After a few moments, you collect yourself and regain your snarky composure.

“Then buy them.” You sass while you cross your arms

Nines huffed and shoulder checked you while walking by. Wearing an amused grin, you follow after him.

Before Nines went to the checkout, he spotted dress pants and grab two new ones, both black. They looked almost exactly the same as the one he was wearing. He was wearing the pants from his uniform, since you couldn’t find any pants he could wear earlier that morning.

The prices in this store were a bit more expensive than other places in this area but you weren’t the one paying for it, so you had no trouble. Nines didn’t seem to care either, though that could be said with everything he does.

The casher put Nines’ clothes in a bag, and you both went on your way, out the store and into the crisp autumn air. Silently, and almost awkwardly, you started walking around the district. The bag that Nines was holding was the only thing stopping you from your knuckles brushing against Nines’.

Suddenly, Nines stopped in his tracks. You walked a moment more before turning around, noticing he had stopped. Walking up to him, you followed his gaze to see what he was staring at.

An old Cyberlife store was staring right back at you. Through the tinted windows, you could see the store completely vacant, only the stands were androids once were sold.

All the Cyberlife stores were remodeled for androids to use as a place to get spare parts, mechanics to repair them if they got an injury, or if there were any problems with updates being corrupted. But it seem like Cyberlife had forgotten about this one.

You put your hands on Nines’ shoulder while he takes in information. Just imagining being sold as merchandise when you have real, human feelings, makes you sick. Though, it also makes you more determined to turn Nines deviant. You knew how you would make your plan.

“Come on…lets go home.” You say, looking at Nines’ profile. Nines was unresponsive, so you pulled lightly on his shoulder.

He whips his head to you, and clear as day, was surprise painted all over his face. Gone was the scowl that so often inhabited his face, in replace was what could only be described as a bewildered expression, a clueless, and almost hopeless expression.

His face alone, made you loathe Cyberlife. The burning feeling of malicious intent raged within you. With your face turned sour, you grabbed Nines’ hand and pulled him in the opposite direction that you were going, and into the direction of your car. Your steps unwavering as Nines limped behind you.

You grabbed the bag from Nines and threw it into the backseat of your car, then you shoved Nines into the passenger seat. You slammed your car door and drove away from the shopping district. You were completely silent, glaring at the road ahead of you.

You were supposed to get Nines’ bed today, but your anger cut that plan short. You’d just have to get it another time. For now, you’d just have to have to settle with aggressively dropping Nines’ clothing bag on your dinner table, and stomping down the hall to your room and slamming the door shut like an angry teenager.

Nines had watched the whole affair, and despite what he reasoned, he couldn’t help but feel like what transpired just now, was his fault. He sat on the couch, staring at the TV, completely engrossed with his own thoughts.

Around twenty minutes later, you appeared in front of Nines, holding the bag in one hand, and your phone in the other. You held out the bag for Nines to take, and then you sat down next to him.

“Go try them on, I want to see how you look.”

Your pervious angry attitude seemed to diminish, as now you were smiling. Nines’ eyes darted between you, and the bag in his hands.

He went to the bathroom wordlessly, shutting the door quietly. Nines looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. He took off the red shirt you’d given him, and pulled out the light grey turtleneck. He slipped it over his head, and once on, he fixed the collar, making sure it was correct. Then he took one of the new pants and put it on. Taking the belt from his old pants and putting it on the new one.

When he walked out of the bathroom, and strolled down the hall, you had just turned off your phone and flipped the screen side down on the coffee table. You looked at him, your eyes roamed all over his new attire. With a nod of the head and a side smile, you’d decided the new clothes were perfect. You asked to see the other turtlenecks and Nines quickly obliged.

Each time he came out of the bathroom, you were on your phone. Once noticing him, you would put your phone face down. He was getting slightly suspicious, but hid his intuition well.

With no more shirts to try on, Nines was stuck wearing the navy blue one. He sat on one corner of the couch, while you sat on the other. You turned on the TV and played one of the many movies saved on it.

Not long into the movie, your phone started ringing and you jumped up from your spot and took your phone quickly, then raced into the kitchen to take the call.

Nines was naturally curious, and being the most advanced android only fed into his ability to snoop. He subtly turned the movie volume down, and turned up the sensitivity of his audio processor. This way, he could hear what you were saying. He was the only android that had this ability.

“Okay.” you confirmed, “I’ll be over soon, say twenty minutes?”

After a moment of the other person talking, you responded, “I’ll tell you more when I get there, don’t worry.”

Your words only raised Nines’ suspicion higher. Where were you going? And who were you talking to? He tried to use any clues to figure out those questions, but they all fell flat.

Before you ended your call, he turned back up the volume of the TV, and put the audio processor sensitivity back to its normal setting. When you entered the living room again, you went searching for your purse. Once found, you went around the apartment, in search of what you may need.

Nines’ curiosity got the best of him when he blurted out, asking where you’re going. You turned on your heel and faced him.

“Connor called me, he wanted me to come over.” You said smoothly. You were trying your best to act natural. You didn’t usually visit Hank’s house, unless it’s to drop off a book you’d borrowed, but Nines didn’t need to know that.

“Can I come?” Nines asked bluntly, by now he was completely intrigued on what you were going to do with Connor.

You stiffened, but remained calm, “I mean-I guess, but I need to talk to Connor alone. You can come as long as you don’t mind talking to Hank.”

Nines shrugged and got up from the couch. You sighed, you didn’t want Nines to come. You had asked Connor to help you come up with a plan to make Nines deviant.

You were almost tempted to tell Nines off, but you stopped yourself. Instead, you let Nines follow you back to your car, and drive to Hank’s house, all the while, slightly annoyed.

Upon arriving to Hank’s house, Nines immediately scanned the outside of the house. You knocked on the door, and waited for Connor to open it. When he did, he smiled and said your name. Then his eyes fell upon the android behind you.

“I couldn’t get him to stay.” You huffed. Connor nodded, and opened the door fully to let you both in.

You could tell that there was rising awkward tension between Connor and Nines, but you didn’t comment on it. Despite the awkward situation, you noticed that Nines was a bit taller than Connor. You let the awkward air consume all three of you, until you were looking at the floor.

Luckily, Hank’s dog, Sumo, came barreling towards you in curiosity. Sumo jumped up on you, bringing you to the ground. You started laughing, and gave attention to the slobbering dog on top of you.

Nines watched in amusement, and Connor joined laughing with you. Connor pulled Sumo off of you and he immediately went to sniff Nines.

Nines became tense while the giant dog took him in. Soon, Sumo barked and rubbed his head against Nines’ hand, forcing Nines to pet him.

“Now that you got the Sumo mark of approval, we can do what we need to do.” You started. “Connor? Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Uh Nines? Hank will be out soon, he’s in his room at the moment.”

As if on queue, Hank walked into the living room. He looked at the three of you, then folded his arms.

“I didn’t know androids were able to multiply.” Hank gestured to Nines.

You smiled and shook your head, walking up to Hank and giving him a hug. Hank gladly hugged you back.

“I hope you don’t mind us coming over, I needed to talk to Connor and Nines insisted on coming.” You pulled away from the hug.

“Nah, I don’t mind, do what you need to do.”   
You gave Hank another quick hug in thanks, and then motioned for Connor to follow you to his room. It was the door at the end of the hallway. You and Connor quickly entered the room, and shut the door behind you, leaving Hank and Nines in the living room.

“Do you want a beer?” Hank looked at Nines.

“Its three o’clock. Plus, I can’t drink anything.”

Hank shrugged, got a bottle from the fridge, and then sat on the couch, taking a sip from it. “More for me, I guess.”

Nines rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch next to Hank.

In Connor’s room, you sat on the foot of his bed, while Connor sat across from you, at the head of his bed.

His room looked like a mix between a little kid’s room and a teenage boy’s room. There were heavy metal band posters all over, while the walls were painted baby blue and yellow. It was an odd mixture, but you had no right to judge.

“So you want to turn Nines deviant?”

You nod, “Yeah, but I need a plan.”  
“Well, deviancy is caused by software instability, at least mine was. I’m sure Nines was built in the same way I was, just with more features and abilities, so he probably has the software instability feature.”

You smile. You knew going to Connor was a good idea. With your combine efforts, you would have a foolproof plan.

“You’ll have to cause major software instability to get him closer to deviate.”

You hum, thinking, “like what?”

“In one of my missions with Hank, the deviant, named Rupert, threw Hank off a roof. I chose to save Hank instead of pursuing after the deviant. That was my first major software instability.”

You remember reading that report, the deviant got away, but Hank was saved.

“Another time I got a major software instability was when I had the choice to shoot two Traci models, I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and so I let them go.”

“So what your saying is, doing humane actions will cause software instability?”

“Yeah! Do you think Nines has had anything major like that? Anything that stands out?”

You think for a couple of moments, going through your memories with Nines. Not much stood out to you.

“No, I don’t think anything like that happened. The only thing I can think of is today.” You pause, “We went out shopping for clothes for him, and while we were walking we found an old Cyberlife store. Nines stared at it for a long time. He looked clueless. Like he didn’t know androids used to be sold.”

“That could’ve been a wake up call.” Connor said.

You hummed in agreement. “Is there anything else that could cause instability?”

You both go silent, thinking of anything that could help you. Suddenly, Connor jumps in realization.

“The updates!” Connor chirps up. When a look of confusion reaches your face, Connor explains. “Cyberlife gives out these updates for androids to make the blend in more with humans. If Nines get them, he’d feel more like a human, causing software instability!”

You smile enthusiastically at Connor, it was easy to get wrapped up in his joyful energy, “But how do we get those updates?”

Both of your excitement seems to deflate for a moment before Connor pipes up again.

“Kamski!” Connor blurts out, “He can help!”

You tilt your head at Connor, “How are you going to get the most reclusive man in the world to help us?”

“Its fine! He did it for me! When I learned about the updates, I was confused on why I wasn’t getting them. I tried to go to a Cyberlife store to fix it, but it didn’t work. It turns out, Cyberlife was preventing me from getting them, so I went to Kamski and he fixed it. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

Needless to say, you were impressed with Connor. You didn’t know he had that kind of ties.

“I don’t know Connor, that’s assuming a lot.” You said, rubbing your arm.

“Come on (y/n), it’s the only thing we got.”

You sigh, “Fine, it’s worth a shot.”

While you and Connor kept planning, Nines had tried to listen in, like he did last time. Of course it didn’t work, you were behind a closed door, and the loud basketball game Hank was watching didn’t help either. Nines knew he had to give up. He was disappointed, but too many other factors were preventing him from finding out what was happening. With a sigh, he slouched on the couch. Causing Hank’s attention to turn to Nines.

“You okay there?” Hank asked, taking a sip from his beer.

Nines gave him a curt nod, “I want to know what they’re doing.”

Hank cranes his head to look down the hallway, “Its probably not important, if it is, Connor would tell me.”

Hank’s words did nothing to convents Nines. Whatever you were talking about did seem important. Why else would you have been waiting for Connor to call you? Unexpectedly, doubts crawled its way into Nines’ mind. Did you not trust him enough to talk about important information? Why go to Connor and not him? Nines tried his best to push those thoughts to the back of his head.

A few moments of silence goes by before Hank speaks up again. “Why did you come with (y/n)? Do you live together or something?”

“Indeed, me and (y/n) are roommates. She invited me after she found out I stayed at the department all night.”

Hank hummed, “What do you think of (y/n)?”

Nines froze, and then thought for a bit, “Although she’s snarky, I find her caring. She’s too kind to me, even if she doesn’t realize it.”

Hank eyed the android, but didn’t question him further. Hank turned his focus back to the basketball game.

“How long will it take until you get in touch with Kamski?” You ask Connor. You had decided that you would try your luck with Connor’s idea.

“Hopefully not long, if we’re lucky, you could go see him tomorrow.” Connor answers you.

You were suddenly very grateful for the advancement in technology. The faster you could get Nines to deviate, the better. You didn’t want Cyberlife to figure out new ways to control Nines.

“I contacted Kamski, now we just have to wait for his reply. You can wait here if you want, or you can go back home.” Connor offered kindly.

“No, I think I’ll just go home. Call me if Kamski says anything.” You said, getting up from Connor’s bed. Your legs had gone numb from how long you’d been sitting in that position. You checked your phone to see that you’d been talking to Connor for almost an hour now.

Before you open the bedroom room, Connor stops you, “(Y/n)? Can I tell Hank about this plan? I think he might be able to help.” Connor does the little head tilt that you find so cute, and you nod at him.

When you enter the living room with Connor behind you, both Hank and Nines are looking at you.

“Hey.” Hank says casually, “You done talking? Cause your android is getting on my nerves.”

You saunter up to the pair and laugh sarcastically, “Yeah we’re done. Nines? You ready to go?”

Nines only gave you a sharp nod and got up from his seat. Hank and Connor walked you both to the door, you hugged and thanked both of them.

“Connor, text me if you think of anything else.”

He smiled and nodded happily. You waved to them while you and Nines made the short walk to your car. Once inside your car, you let out a sigh, proud of your work today.

“Okay let’s go.” You grinned at Nines, the effect of Connor’s enthusiasm still going strong.

On your way to your apartment complex, you noticed Nines was uncharacteristically quiet. You wondered what was wrong.

“Hey? You okay? You’re really quiet.”

Nines’ gaze leaves the floor and focuses on you. There was obvious annoyance in his eyes, you knew you had to proceed with caution.

“What’s wrong Nines?”

“What were you doing with Connor?” Nines’ voice was low and dangerous. It sent a shiver up your spine.

“Huh? We were just talking-”

“What were you doing?” Nines said louder, his jaw and fist were clenched.

“I swear! We were only talking! Nothing else happened.” You had no idea where Nines’ anger came from. Did he care about you that much?  
Nines rolled his eyes and huffs, “Whatever.”

The rest of the drive was wordless, no one said anything, every once in a while, you would turn your head to look at Nines. He didn’t acknowledge you, he just kept watching the road. While driving, you were lost in your own thoughts. The pride you felt only moments before, suddenly turned into doubts. You replayed scenes at Hank’s house, trying to find out what was wrong.

It suddenly dawned on you, Nines was jealous of Connor. The thought only made you cringe. Connor was like a cute little brother that you would do anything for. Nines was- well you don’t know what Nines was to you. He wasn’t necessarily a friend, but you weren’t acquaintances either.

Once inside your apartment, Nines immediately stormed off, the door of the study room slammed shut, rattling the windows. You winced. He was acting like an angry teenager.

You put your bag down and before you could do anything else, your stomach started grumbling, yelling at you to get some food.

Because of Nines, you were in a bad mood, so you settled on comfort food. You made instant ramen, and ate it on your dinner table. Even though there was now someone your apartment with you, the feeling of loneliness reappeared, stronger than ever.

Finishing the ramen quickly, you went to your room to read the book you tried to fall asleep with last night.

Comfortably lying on your bed, you started reading the novel. After a few chapters, your phone ringing on your bedside table interrupted your relaxing reading time. It was from Connor. Picking up your phone and answering it, you instantly got excited.

“(Y/n)? Kamski contacted me back. He said you could come over tomorrow.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda short (like 3700 words) but I did update, so sliver lining?

The drive to Kamski’s villa was long and uncomfortable. Nines was curious why you were taking him to the outskirts of Detroit, but his pride got in the way of asking. When he did swallow his pride, your answers were vague and cryptic.

Although the drive was long, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. It was late summer, but here it look like autumn was in full swing. Most of the trees already had their leaves beautiful colors of red, yellow, and orange. Pine and oak trees also littered the area, the accent of green was the perfect touch to the autumn forest.

Parking the car in front of Kamski’s house was a shock for Nines, though now he knew where you were going, he still didn’t know why.

The leaves crunched underneath your feet as you went up the walkway, with Nines at your heel. You were thankful he was cooperating even though he was mad at you, it made things a lot easier. He had no idea why you were here and what you were doing. You decided not to tell him in fear he or Cyberlife might try something to stop you.

After ringing the doorbell, you were surprised when an android open the door, a Chloe model to be exact. She was dressed in a dark teal, long sleeved dress, and she was barefoot. You thought the color complemented her well. She still hadn’t removed her LED, which you thought was a bit strange.

“Are you here to see Elijah?” Chloe asked in a sweet voice. When you nodded, Chloe let you in. Behind you, Nines was looking at the back of your head in confusion. Why were you here to see Elijah Kamski?

You followed Chloe into the house and you immediately noticed the portrait of Kamski in a suit. It made him look vain, but then again, if you were the CEO for the most successful business company in the world, you’d be narcissistic too.

Chloe led you to a room with a pool filled with red water and huge windows overlooking Detroit. She opened a door that was right next to a large painting, and disappeared inside. You looked at Nines for a reaction, but he didn’t give you the satisfaction of one. You suppose he was still mad at you. Sighing, you followed Chloe.

In this room, there were the same large windows, but this room looked more like a living room. It looked like the definition of modern. There were two grey couches, one leaning against the wall facing the window, and a another across from it. In between the couches, a coffee table lay, on top of the coffee table was a geometric shape decoration and a magazine. Overhead, there were LED lights in a triangular pattern. In the middle of the room, there was a TV that was currently off. Behind the TV, there was a wall with crystalized shapes inside squares. In front of the wall, a dinning table with many chairs stood.

“Elijah? Your guests are here.” Chloe said, gesturing to you and Nines.

Kamski was sitting on the couch facing away from the window, he was typing something on the laptop on his lap. You didn’t expect Kamski to be wearing something so casual. He wore navy blue jeans and a long sleeve graphic shirt. Large glasses sat on his face, and his signature man bun undercut haircut was styled apart from a few strands falling onto his face.

“Ah yes, Connor’s friends.” Kamski put the laptop onto the cushion next to him and directed his attention to you and Nines.

“Elijah Kamski, I am (y/n) (l/n) and that’s my partner and professional asshole, Nines.” You didn’t mean to act petty in front of Elijah Kamski of all people, but you were bitter from Nines acting so rude to you. But to your surprise, Kamski had a half smile upon his face.

“Detective, I presume.” You nod at Kamski and he continues, “My brother told me about you.”

You tilt your head. Kamski has a brother? Who was he? How did his brother know you?

Kamski noticed your confused expression so he explained, “I’m disappointed that he never told you. I’m sure you’re familiar with Detective Gavin Reed.”

Your jaw goes slack, You gape at Kamski in shock and confusion. You weren’t able to form complete sentences so all you were able to say was, “Brother?”

Kamski nods and smiles, “Half brother to be exact. We’re not as close as we used to be, but we talk ever so often.”

A million questions run through your head. You were completely dumbfounded. You never even knew Gavin had any siblings, much less a brother that created Cyberlife. You would have to talk to Gavin about this later.

“Anyway, Connor told me what you’re here for, and that it should be kept incognito.” He gestures to Nines subtly. You still could barely make proper sentences so all you did was nod.

“Nines,” Kamski addressed, “You’re here to get some new abilities to fight crime.” You noticed Kamski’s ability to lie so smoothly, and his lie wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Can’t someone at Cyberlife give me the new ability?” Nines asked suspiciously.

“Oh nonsense, no one at Cyberlife has my expertise.” Kamski replied simply.

Nines thought for a moment then nodded.

Kamski turned to Chloe and gave her a short nod. She walked towards the TV and pushed a button on the TV stand. Suddenly, a glass casing rose up from the floor between the TV and the coffee table.

“If you will just get in here I can start the process.”

Nines barely hesitated, he walked into the casing and a glass door shut behind him. Nines turned so he was facing the three of you.

“Please remove your skin.” Kamski asked Nines as he walked up to the glass door.

Nines did as he was told. The synthetic skin disappeared, in its place was the smooth white and grey plastic. Kamski touched the glass door and a light blue keyboard showed up on the door, he started typing on it. Other holograms of code appeared on the door while Kamski was working. He touched them before typing something into it, then deleting something else. He worked fast and efficiently. About fifteen minutes later, he was finished.

Chloe unlocked the case and Nines stepped out, His synthetic skin reappearing. He looked around awkwardly, then his face scrunched up in confusion.

“I got a notification for an update, should I download it? It’ll take ten minutes.” Nines asked to no one in particular.

“Yeah Nines, it’ll help us!” You urge.

Nines nods, then takes a seat on Kamski’s couch. He stares ahead of him, looking at the coffee table.

“While that’s downloading, he’ll be unresponsive. In the mean time, we can talk.” Kamski said, “Take a seat, Detective.”

You sit on the couch opposite of Nines, next to Kamski. He looks at you and in a serious voice he questions.

“Why do you want Nines to deviate? What is your purpose for doing so?”

You look at him, “I just want him to, he’s missing out. I don’t think it’s right for one android to be a machine, when all the rest are deviants.”

You continue talking to Kamski until Nines had downloaded all the updates. Most of your conversation was about Gavin and Kamski being brothers and the updates that were being installed. You were suddenly interrupted by Nines.

“(Y/n)?” Nines touched the couch with his hand then flinched away. He jumped up from the couch, he held his hands in front of him, looking at them, “(y/n)? What is going on?”

Nines stumbled towards you, and you stand up to catch him. He falls into your arms, but before he could get settled in your grip, he falls backward.

Everything he touched had a feeling to it. When he touched the cushion, the soft feeling startled him. Then when he when to you for reassurance, your skin and clothing had an odd feeling. The smell of you also filled his nose. It made him fall back, he didn’t like how everything had a feeling. It was a sensory overload, and it was causing all types of software instability.

His eyes darted everywhere, he didn’t like what was happening to him. For once, he didn’t know what had happened.

You slowly walked towards the panicking android, holding your hands up to make sure he knew you weren’t trying to hurt him.

“It’s okay Nines, everything is alright. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

You kneeled down to face Nines, he looked completely scared, and touching the soft carpet sure wasn’t helping. You tried to reach out to touch him but he jolted back. Learning from your mistake, you approached him more slowly. You touched his sleeve and rubbed it gently, Nines watched as you did this. He was used to feeling nothing, only the pressure of something against him. Now he felt everything. He was extremely sensitive, anything and everything was causing him to be uncomfortable.

“Can I touch you?” The fear in your eyes was evident. You could only thing that maybe you shouldn’t have had all the updates download at one time. Maybe you pushed too far.

Nines wanted to brush you off, stand up, and get out of Kamski’s house in the same manner as always, but everything was so jumbled and confusing, he decided to nod.

You got on your knees and carefully wrapped your arms around Nines. Your scent flooded Nines’ nose. He stiffened, but after a moment, your smell became inviting and oddly comforting. Your touch became warm and empathetic. In a weird way, he liked it.

You weren’t very touchy-feely, but right now you didn’t care. You felt terrible for doing this to Nines when he wasn’t ready. You needed to help him through this.

To your shock, Nines wrapped his arms around your torso. He was hugging you back. His hug was awkward, as if he was trying to get into the most comfortable position. But you didn’t mind, you took what you could get, and this was definitely the end to your argument.

The hug didn’t last very long, Nines was the one to pull away. He wanted to go back to unemotional machine that he was. He shouldn’t he hugging his coworker. It’s unprofessional.

When he stood up, he ran a diagnostic. He found the new software quickly. All different kinds of new abilities, after some quick research, he found these updates were for deviants. At first, he was going to lash out at you, but the actual feeling of hugging you reappeared in his mind. He wanted that feeling again, if he forces you to get rid of it, he wouldn’t be able to smell your loving scent, or your comforting touch. He ultimately decided to not comment on the changes.

“Sorry about that Nines, I thought it would help.” You rub your hands sheepishly, looking up at him.

“I’m Cyberlife’s most advanced android, I am able to adapt to any situation, I will not have a problem here.” Nines said flatly.

Despite his words, he was unsteady on his feet. He didn’t know this is how humans feel the world. Nines did his best to show he was unaffected by these changes, but his obvious discomfort shown through.

You walked up to Kamski sitting comfortably on his couch, he had watched your whole exchange with Nines, and realizing that, made you embarrassed.

“Uh, thank you so much Kamski, this means a lot to me.” You stutter slightly on your words.

“Your welcome Detective, I’m happy to help.” He rests his chin on his fist and smiles at you.

“Well- we better get going. Thank you again for your time.”

Kamski nods shortly, and you start walking the way you came, with Nines lagging behind. Chloe kindly walked you out, and you made sure to thank her as well.

Nines was out the door when you turned to Chloe. She watched you expectantly and kindly.

“I know this is a weird question, but are you a deviant?” You stutter a bit asking such a personal question.

To your surprise, Chloe smiles and nods. You were really expecting her to be offended, “Of course I’m deviant.”

“Then why are you still helping Kamski?” She could be doing so much more. You were just genuinely curious.

“Well, all the other Chloes left to do what they wanted, but I feel that if someone doesn’t take care of Elijah, he won’t take care of himself.” She simply smiles and shrugs.

You nod and smiles slightly. With a wave, you leave Kamski’s house.

You see Nines waiting in the passenger seat of your car. When you get into the driving seat, Nines speaks up.

“Do you think you could’ve hurried up? It’s really cold outside.” He goes to fold his arms but flinches when his arms come into contact with each other.

Now that you watch more closely, you observe that Nines was sitting tensely against the seat. His back doesn’t touch the seat, his legs are hovering apart, and he tensed his shoulders.

You suddenly become guilty. You hadn’t meant to make Nines so uncomfortable, just to cause software instability. You didn’t even know if it worked, and if you asked it would cause more suspicion.

Without answering Nines’ question, you start your car and drive away.

Back at your apartment, you had discovered that Nines found solace inside your bedroom. While you were doing a couple of chores, Nines had snuck inside your room and sat on your bed. When turning around, you found that Nines had crawled under your blankets, he was on his side, and was out like a light.

You turned off the light and quietly shut the door behind you. Honestly, you were surprised to find Nines, of all people, asleep in your bedroom. Guessing that once he downloaded the new sleeping feature, his body realized he was overworking himself, making him extremely sleepy. You really need to get him a bed.

Walking into the living room you find a blanket halfway on the couch, the other half on the floor. The pillow was in a position for sleeping, and you realize that Nines was trying to sleep here.

You sigh and plop yourself down onto the couch, taking out your phone to text Gavin about the whole incident of Kamski and him being brothers. Not far into your conversation, you get called for a case. Figuring that Gavin got the case information, you text him that you’ll beat him over to the scene of the crime.

Sadly you had to wake up Nines. Even when he just rolled out of bed, he looked completely perfect. No hair out of place, and he looked well rested. All he needed to do was fix his turtleneck and he was ready to go. You assumed that Nines already had read the case file so you didn’t tell him about the briefing.

The case was a homicide between an android and a human. It’s been a frequent theme, so it seems. Though this time, it was the android that was the unlucky one in this scenario. It was actually the human that called the police, clamming self-defense.

Arriving to the scene, which is just a side street with walls covered in graffiti and a few back alleys, you take note to the kind of area you’re in. It was a low-income area, with a few gangs here and there, of both androids and humans. Making it completely possible for the android that was killed to be apart of said gangs.

You quickly find Gavin, he was looking over some evidence. You walk up next to him and he turned to you.  
“Beat you.” His signature smirk rests on his face with his hip cocked out.

You roll your eyes, “Come on, we got more serious things to attend to.” You kneel down to see the evidence Gavin was looking at.

“That’s what a loser would say.”

Ignoring him, you look at the pocket knife that’s covered in both normal blood and blue blood. You wonder if the knife was used by both of them.

You stand up and head to the dead android on the sidewalk, which just so happened to be close to an alleyway. Gavin follows.

“His name is Jett Honne,” Gavin says, “And she’s’ Camille Gilbert.” he jerked his thumb toward Camille who was talking to Nines, while a medic wrapped her arm in a band-aid.

You bring your eyes back to Jett’s dead body and all that surrounded him. Jett’s shirt was ripped from the sternum to his belly button, exposing the empty area where the Thirium pump regulator should be. A small hole around his belly button was dripping blue blood, from the pocket knife, if you had to guess.

The pump regulator, you found, was far away from Jett. You take a look at it but find nothing of interest. Maybe Nines could find more. You hate to admit it, but he does find little details that you may have missed.

You call Nines over, and he excuses himself from Camille. She looked angry and unfriendly, while Nines looked annoyed, although, he did look grateful to get away from her.

“Nines, can you take a look at this?”

He picks up the pump regulator and looks it over. In a daze, Nines stood up and scanned the whole area. It was the oddest sight to see, but you could only guess he was using one of his fancy features he has.

Nines turns back to you after a few seconds, “I reconstructed the scene, Jett came out of that alleyway and attacked Camille with the pocket knife. Camille took the knife and cut his shirt, while plunging it into Jett, she took out the pump regulator and threw it. Meanwhile, Jett took the knife out of him and sliced Camille’s arm. He tried the reach his pump regulator, but he ran out of time. Jett fell on his back and there is where he died.”

You put a hand on your hip and shake your head, “Did you have this ability this whole time and never used it?”

“I’ve used it plenty times before Detective. I believe you just didn’t care to notice.” Nines remarked, then walked up to the android body.

Nines has been trying to get used to the new changes he had installed just today. He was trying to take things slow, but unfortunately, this case has pushed him harder than he’d like. Yes, he was an android that was designed to obey and adapt easily, but this was different. Now he could smell the Thirium coming off of the dead android. It burned through his new senses, making him nauseous.

“Hey prick, test the blood.” Gavin stated.

Nines obeyed. He walked up to Jett’s dead body and kneeled down, the smell of the Thirium was stronger, making Nines’ nose scrunch. Still, he obeyed. With a swipe of two fingers, Nines picked up the blue blood from Jett’s wound. The feeling of the warm blue blood was foreign and unwelcome to Nines. He’s done this before, in test runs and missions. But this time it was different.

He tried to bring the blue blood to his face to test it, but the odd texture of the Thirium, and the smell of it, sent him overboard.

All of a sudden, his head started spinning, and Nines became dizzier by the second. Nines ultimately lost his balance, and fell backwards onto his ass.  
You and Gavin had watched Nines become uneasy. You pieced together what might have happened, and came to Nines aid.

Putting a hand on Nines’ back as you kneeled down, you looked at him with concern. He was visibly shaken with his eyes wide, his arms were supporting him, and he didn’t look like he was enjoying the feeling of the rough sidewalk on his hands.

“You okay, Nines?”

He turned to you, and you barely notice the nod that came from him, as it was so brief, it was easy to miss.

“Yeah, well I don’t believe you. Here, I’ll take you back to my car,” You slowly help Nines stand up, “And you can sit this one out. Me and Gavin well take care of it.”

“No! I can do this!” Nines lurched out of your hold, and you stare at him blankly.

“Nines, we both know you can’t do this, you still need to adjust, it’ll take some time.”

Nines ignored you, and spun around, but still unsteady from earlier he wobbles and almost falls over again. Only saved by you catching him.

You glare at him, and he caves. Still, Nines wanted to protest, but he has no voice to. He knows anyone at Cyberlife would be disappointed with him, but he also agreed with you. He was in no right mind to keep going with this investigation, so you guided him by the small of his back, to your car.

You open the rear door, and you help Nines get into the seat. He still looked shaken. You wish you could stay with him, but you can’t. You’ll have to go back to the investigation sooner or later.

“You can sleep here if that’ll make you feel better.” You pat Nines’ shoulder.

He, again, nods. You sigh, then squeeze Nines’ shoulder, “I won’t be long, okay?”

This time, he hums. Good enough I guess.

You shut the door as quietly as possible, as not to disturb Nines. Shoving your hands into your pockets, you take the short walk back to Gavin. You’d have to try to keep this investigation short, you don’t want Nines to be waiting that long. Gavin looks at you with an amused brow, and you immediately know what he’s thinking.

“So? Have you found out if the plastic prick has well- a plastic prick?” Gavin nudges your side while raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“Nope.” You say flatly, “Wanna find out for yourself?”

Gavin chokes on his spit, then doubled over laughing, holding his stomach, as if you said the funniest joke in the world. The tiniest of a smile forms on your face at the sight of Gavin laughing.

“Phck, this is why I love you, (y/n).” Gavin wipes away a tear when he gets back up.

“Yeah yeah, I’m the best. Let’s just keep this investigation short, okay?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Gavin are partners at the DPD, everything was more or less great, but a certain new android is sent to work with the both of you. You're not to fond of androids but you can live with it. This android seems to have it out for proving that he's better than you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took a while, I really hope you enjoy, I worked very hard on it!

Through the rear-view mirror you looked at Nines, in the back seat of your car. He was sitting upright, with his head held low, his hair slightly disheveled from lying down before he sat up.

After taking a quick look at Nines, you put your car in reverse and back out, driving away from the crime scene.

As it turns out, this was a case of justifiable homicide. Camille and Jett used to be in a gang together, until Camille broke off. To clean up loose ends, the gang sent Jett to kill Camille, and to make it look like her death was just an alley fight gone wrong. But the plan failed and Jett was the one to die.

While you and Gavin talked to Camille, to put it simply, you found that she disliked androids. She was very passionate about hating them. It was no wonder that Nines was happy to get away from her. Despite her obvious dislike for androids, you found no evidence of this case being a criminal homicide. Thus, you ruled it as justifiable.

By now, the productive hours of the day has already past, and the sky was getting dark. Your stomach was signaling for you to get food, so you settled with fast food.

Usually, food would help you feel better when you were down, so while going through the drive-through, you were tempted to buy Nines something. Though you were well aware that Nines couldn’t eat.

You wanted Nines to know you were concerned about him, but you couldn’t think of anything to help him feel better. Suddenly, while you were crunching on your fries, an idea came to you. It was an odd idea, but it could work.

You searched your car for a couple of quarters, then pocketed them. Nines watched you as you did this, and naturally he wondered what you were doing.

Turning to Nines, you tell him you’ll be back in a bit. You then got out of your car, and jogged into the restaurant.

Once inside, you quickly found what you were looking for, you put two quarters into the old dispenser, and turned the crank. The capsules inside moved until one comes down the slot. You grab the capsule and shook it lightly. Inside the semi transparent plastic, you can see a small plastic ring, much too small for you or Nines’ fingers, but that’s not what mattered.

When you got back in your car, you saw that Nines eyes were fixed on you. His eyebrows were slightly upturned, but his mouth was still in the same thin line that it was always in.

“I doubt Cyberlife will be very happy with my performance today.” Nines broke the silence between you. His eyes trailed down to the floor. He was disappointed with himself.

You opened and closed your mouth before gathering your thoughts, “Nines, its okay. We all make mistakes, its normal.” Nines didn’t respond.

A few seconds of awkward silence goes by until you remember the capsule in your pocket. “Uh! I have something for you!”

You dug the capsule from your pocket, while Nines watched interested. You held out your hand and gently placed it in Nines open palm. He shook it between his fingers, upon hearing the rattling, he opened the lid and picked up the ring. The band was painted silver and the fake jewel was pink.

You couldn’t tell if Nines liked your gift or not, so you tried to explain yourself, “I know it’s kinda childish, and not to mention out of style, but I just wanted to remind you that I care about you and I want you to feel better.”

Nines lifts his gaze up to you, with the same emotionless stare he has plastered on his face. After a few seconds of Nines staring blankly at you, you start to loose hope. Before you back out completely, Nines’ mouth twitches into what you guess was a smile. Although it didn’t look like one, it was the thought that count. At least, that’s what you told yourself until you burst out laughing.

Nines’ face twist into confusion, while you   
Hold your stomach in pain because of your continuous laughter.

“Did I do something wrong?” Nines tilts his head. He doesn’t understand, he was just trying to show he was happy with his gift.

“I’m sorry-its just-your smile is funny.” You blurt out in between laughter.

“Here, I’ll show you,” You grin happily at Nines, “see?”

Nines nods, his LED spinning yellow. He analyzes your face closely, and follows your actions.

This time, he smiles more naturally, it still is a bit awkward, but he’s gotten the hang of it. The more you look at his smiling face, the more you realize how handsome his face really is.

“See? There! You got it!” You encourage him.

“Thank you, (y/n), for everything.”

“Of course, Nines.” You kindly smile, then turn around in your seat, and drive out of the fast food parking lot.

About a week later, Nines had mostly gotten used to the new changes, it was a slow go, but he was surely getting used to it. Nines had the most trouble with the changes during investigations. He hated how the blood felt, he said that it was oddly warm. He was lucky that he wasn’t able to taste it.

A couple days ago, Nines insisted on wearing his android jacket, at first you told him not to, that he was fine without it, but he bargained that he would wear a turtleneck underneath. There was no use in fighting, so you agreed.

Sometimes, when you, Gavin, and Nines are working at the station, which was more often than not, you’ve found Nines fiddling with the plastic ring. The sight always made you smile, it made an odd fuzzy feeling swell inside you.

Today was a slow day for all three of you. It was midday and you’ve already completed most of your paperwork. You haven’t gotten a new case for three days, and you were starting to wonder if crime just stopped altogether.

All three of your desks were pushed together, with Gavin next to you, and Nines across from both of you. Nines suddenly looks up from his computer, which pulls your attention from your screen. Yours and Nines’ eyes lock and you look at him curious, while he looks slightly shocked. Nines then looks back at his computer, without a word being said. You raise a brow, interested on why such a stoic android looked so shocked, but you don’t investigate further.

For the rest of the day you keep seeing Nines look slightly shaken, you kept getting increasingly more suspicious and worried.

You once notice Connor and Nines giving subtle glances at each other. Then when you were going to the break room to get more coffee, you saw Connor and Nines connecting their arm in a weird handshake, their skin exposed from their hands to their forearm. You’ve heard that’s how androids exchange information. By now, you were almost bursting at the seams to know what Nines was up to.

So when your shift was over, you packed up your stuff quickly, and told Nines to do the same. When you were walking out of the station, everyone that was still there kindly said goodbye when you walk past there desk. You just waved them off, and when Gavin said bye, you responded harshly. You were slightly frustrated that Nines hasn’t told you what was going on, and it was starting to show.

You kick open your door to your shared apartment, and put all your stuff by the front door, while Nines brings it to his room. You finally got a bed for him, and Nines was definitely thankful for that. Nines’ room was barely decorated, and when you ask him if he wanted anything more in his room, he simply said he had no reason to, so his room is almost barren.

Nines sits at the small dinner table, typing away on a laptop, while you eat takeout with chopsticks. Nines sits across from you so you can’t see what he was looking at, you had a feeling that he was looking at something that had to do with what happened at the station.

You stare at his face while he reads something on the laptop, his face abruptly morphs into one of horror. You decide to finally ask about his unusual behavior today.

“Whatcha reading?” You ask, shoving a couple of noodles into your mouth.

His eyes dart to you, then back at the screen, then he answers, “I was-uh-looking at old articles from what happened last year.”

You hum, “Why?” You look at Nines dead in the eye.

“I didn’t know what happened, and I was curious.”

You don’t say anything else, and go back to eating your dinner. Nines goes back to typing away at the laptop in search of more articles. You pull out your phone and text Hank, asking him if he wants to go to a bar together. You could use a drink after stressing about what happened to Nines.

“(Y/n)? Were you there when the revolution happened?” Nines asks you as you throw away your empty takeout box.

“Yeah I was there for most of it, the weather got really cold really fast, so I got sick. I had to ask Hank and Gavin what happen.”

Nines nods slowly, “And?”

You look at him, thinking. After a moment you come to a conclusion, “From what happened to Connor and other incidents, I wouldn’t trust Cyberlife with anything.”

After your words, you head to your room in search of a more suitable outfit for your “date” with Hank.

Nines stares at where you once stood in thought. Why don’t you trust Cyberlife? Should he not trust Cyberlife as much as he does? After what information Connor gave to him today, maybe he should stop trusting Cyberlife too.

You search through your closet, trying to find something casual and comfortable to wear. You decide on a red plunging V-neck shirt, black pants, red flats, and a leather jacket. You smile at the leather jacket, remembering why you got it.

A couple years ago, after a long and hard case, you and Gavin went to debrief by the Detroit River. It was a cold winter day, and after chasing a criminal, the cold air felt good on your sweating body. The only problem was that you had forgotten your jacket that day, which had caused many problems so far. By then, your hot body had become cold, so you complained to Gavin that you should go back to the car, he disagreed. After a bit more complaining, he sighed and shrugged off his leather jacket and gave it to you. The jacket warmed you up quickly, so you decided you would get yourself a leather jacket the next day. Which is exactly what you did.

After getting dressed, you get a text from Hank saying he’ll pick you up in five.

“Where are you going?” Nines asks you from the dinner table, still on the laptop.

“I’m probably going to Jimmy’s Bar, knowing Hank.”  
You see Nines’ LED spin yellow, then blue, “Then why are you dressed up?”

You put your hand over your heart in mock hurt, “If I’m going to drown my sorrows, I better look damn good while doing so.”

Before Nines can answer, you get a text from Hank saying that he’s in the parking lot. You text him back that you’ll be right there.

“Oh, I gotta go Nines, I’ll call you if I need you to take me home.” You wave goodbye to Nines, then grab a handbag on the way out.

You slid into the passenger seat of Hank’s car and he smiles at you then looks at your attire.

“Well you clean up nice. I now feel underdressed.” Hank laughs a bit.

He’s wearing one of his button up shirts with weird designs on it. You always like coming into the station and finding out what wacky shirt Hank was wearing that day.

You shove him lightly, “You look fine…for an old man.”

He glares at you, then laughs heartily. You laugh along with him

Your car ride with Hank mostly consisted of headbanging to Hank’s heavy metal music, that you didn’t know the words too, and rocking out to the classics from the 80s and 90s.

Hank pulls into a parking space for Jimmy’s Bar, and you step out of the car. Once out, Hank turns to you and asks you a question that got your night rolling.

“Ready to drink like teenagers again?”

After your third shot of tequila, you started to feel a buzz. Hank has taken his fourth shot, and it was getting more obvious that he was getting increasingly more drunk as well.

Now that you gotten some liquid courage, you turn to the cute boy next to you that you’ve been eyeing for a while. Most people that came into Jimmy’s Bar were usually older and more on the sketchy side, so when this cute boy walked into the bar, you got excited. Even more so when he sat in the stool next to yours.

After a couple minutes of flirting, you finally try making a pass on him, but he turns you down and moves to one of the booths.

You sigh and ask for another shot to try to repress your rejection. You choke down the harsh liquid and Hank raises a brow at you.

“So I’ll take it that you’re not dating Nines.” Hank says, slightly slurring his words.

Your eyes grow large, and you start laughing, “Me? Dating that annoying asshole? No way in hell.” You cross your arms in a pout, “He won’t even tell me what he’s been up to all day.”

Hank turns to you, taking another shot, “He hasn’t told you yet?”

You stare at him, your mouth agape, “He told you and not me!”

“Nah, I heard a little bit of it from Connor, somethin’ about Cyberlife or some bullshit.” Hank says with a shrug.

You hum, interested and slightly angry. You reach for your phone, planning to text Nines, but before you could, you already see unread messages and a missed call from him.

His texts tell you that you need to come back home, that he needs your help with something.

You groan, not ready for the night to end. Your words were only starting to slur together, but curiosity killed the cat.

“Nines texted, he said he wanted me to go home, so I guess I’m cutting our date short, old man.” You say while looking through your handbag.

“Well damn, I was just starting to have fun.” Hank jokes.

You look through your handbag, unable to find your wallet. You think you might have left it back at your apartment.

Hank notices your struggle and speaks up, “(y/n), don’t worry about it, I’ll pay. But you owe me.” He says pointing a finger at you.

“Another night out, I suppose.”

Hank laughs drunkenly, “That’ll work.”

“Don’t drink too much, okay? Call Connor if you need to!” You say walking out the door, you see Hank waving you off before the door to Jimmy’s Bar closes.

You sober up while in the automatic taxi, thinking of what Nines wants from you. Concluding that it had something to do with earlier today.  
You open your front door and close it, immediately noticing how dark it is inside. Was Nines even here? You put down your handbag and reach for the light switch.

Before you can flick the light on, a hand grabs your wrist and pulls you away from the light. You scream and a hand covers your mouth.

You were about to start fighting but you notice the hands that are on your wrist and mouth. In place of light skin, pure white hands hold tight. There was a light blue line separating flesh to pure white. Quickly recognizing this as an android feature.

Slowly the hand on your mouth releases and you harshly whisper, “Nines?”

“Shh!” 

With your eyes finally adjusted to the dark, you notice Nines standing in front of you. He’s wearing his android jacket. The light glow of blue of his armband and triangle on his chest illuminates his face.

His eyes dart around the pitch-black apartment, and you watch his LED go from blue to red quickly. You’ve never seen his LED turn red before, only yellow, even while fighting deviants. You immediately know something’s wrong.

“Whats wrong?” You whisper close to his face.

“I got called to the Cyberlife tower earlier today, but I couldn’t when they called because I was working. Though now, I can, and I would prefer if you came with me.”

You notice Nines’ professionalism and your brow furrows. Something was definitely not right.

“Why does Cyberlife want you back?”

Nines doesn’t answer, but instead you hear a buzz from inside your handbag. You look at the bag and then at Nines. He nods you on.

You slowly walk to your bag and you hear the buzz again. Quickly realizing it’s from your phone, you take it out. Finding the messages are from Nines.

His texts say, ‘Cyberlife has noticed my increasing amount of software instability, and wants to take me apart and replace me.’

“They want me for a checkup.” Nines answers out loud.

You clench your fists and grit your teeth. Cyberlife is trying to replace Nines? How dare they try to erase your progress!

“Why do you need me?” You ask him through gritted teeth.

“I want my partner to be there with me.” Nines answers truthfully.

You hear your phone buzz, and you look down. Nines sent you another text.

‘I don’t trust Cyberlife anymore, and because I haven’t gone to Cyberlife yet, they sent agents outside the apartment, that’s why we’re laying low.’

“Well, I better get ready, don’t want to keep them waiting.” You say looking around the dark apartment.

In record time, you get into your uniform, and make sure to pack your pistol. You hide the gun well, making sure that it can’t be seen. Something tells you that this might end in a fight.

Quickly and casually, you and Nines make your way through your apartment complex and into your car. All the while, Nines texts you, explaining the situation.

Apparently, people at Cyberlife have been watching Nines perform through his eyes, and they have watched Nines’ software get more and more unstable.

You realize that Cyberlife is smart enough to know that you are the one that been trying to get him to deviate. Therefore, you’re part of the problem, and they want all causes of the problem erased.

You suddenly feel a lot more unsafe then you did before. Knowing that not only do they have guns trained on Nines, but also on you. One step out of line, and your both goners.

While crossing MacArthur Bridge, you go slowly. You make it to the end of the bridge and see a gate that said “Cyberlife” on it, and a couple of CyberLife guards checking people before they go in.

You play it cool while the guards check yours and Nines identification. You could’ve cut the tension with a knife while they check your I.D.

With the gate lowering and the Cyberlife Tower in view, Nines drives forward, leading you closer to your doom.

Outside your car and into the chilly air, you find the entrance of the tower and walk with Nines towards it.

Walking into the building, you’re immediately greeted by stark white architecture. Geometric designs lined the walls and a couple of bamboo trees decorated the inside.

Two guards accompany you and Nines, one simply says, “follow me.” With a suspicious glance to Nines, you follow in suit of the guard in front of you, while the other guard follows you and Nines from behind.

While walking a blue light engulfs the four of you, while a disembodied voice identifies you. It lists off the guards’ identification, as well as yours and Nines’, giving you authorization through the transparent glass gate.

You walk on the glass bridge, looking around at the beautiful design. An enormous geometric statue of a person holding a glowing star-like shape in its hands, stood in the dead center of the tower. The beautifully crafted architecture lures you in, but you realize that you’re getting closer and closer to yours and Nines’ inevitable doom, and the beautiful white walls that you stare at in awe, could very well be soon painted red and blue.

The elevator doors open and the guard walks towards it, promptly making you follow behind. You step inside the elevator with Nines, the two guards walk in as well.

“Agent 36. Level 43.” One of the guards says while pressing buttons. You notice the directory and find that level 43 is the highest floor. Are they trying to make it harder for you to escape?

While the elevator makes its long trip to the top floor, you and Nines watch the guards nervously. You clench your hand into a fist and your eyebrows upturned. The higher the elevator goes, the more your stomach twist into a knot.

You look over to Nines, and find he’s completely calm. His hands relaxed at his sides, and his LED a steady blue. Seeing him so calm, relaxes you for a bit.

Nines looks over to you, once he feels your gaze directed towards him. He scans over your face and reaches his hand for yours. You look at his hand and lace your fingers with his. Nines gently gives your hand a squeeze, reassuring you silently.

The elevator dings and you and Nines follow the guards again, although this time, hand and hand.

You weave through hallways and office cubicles. You can’t even try to memorize the way back to the elevator, you hope that Nines memorized the way back.

Finally, the guards stop before a door, the brass plate labeled, “Meeting Room.” One of the guards opens the door, inviting you and Nines inside.

Inside the office, there was a large white rectangular table, a couple of house plants in the corners of the room, one of the walls was glass looking out to the rest of Belle-Isle, a holographic screen laid on the table, and little blue accents adorned the pure white walls.

You let go of Nines’ hand when a couple dozen eyes fell upon the two of you. There where thirteen chairs aligned with the table, six on each side, and one on the far end. Of those thirteen chairs, eleven of them were filled. Each person in the chairs looked very professional, and very intimidating. Their collective stare made you regret letting go of Nines’ hand.

“Hello Detective (l/n),” the businesswoman that sat on the chair at the end of the table spoke, “hello RK900. Please, sit down.” She motions to the chairs next to her. You slowly walked to one of the seats she motioned to, Nines sits across from you.

The woman that conducted the meeting wore a full black suit, with a white shirt underneath. Her greying brown hair was tied into a neat bun, and pear earrings hung from her ears. Her face was pulled into a fake smile while looking at Nines, but a scowl that rivaled Nines’ when looking at you.

“So I’m sure you want to know why you’re here, RK900.” She says looking at him, “We’ve noticed your-“ she glances at you, “performances during investigations, and decided that something needs to change.”

A moment goes by with no one speaking. The chairs you’re sitting in are padded and cushy, and yet you feel tense and uncomfortable in your seat.

“Please, observe.” The woman says and something appears on the holographic screen on the table.

You watch the screen and recognize the crime scene of Jett Honne’s dead body. You hear Gavin’s voice rudely telling Nines to test Jett’s blood. They kneel down and put two fingers close to Jett’s exposed wound. You quickly put together that this is from Nines perspective, and wince from what you know is going to happen next.

You watch as Nines takes blue blood from Jett’s wound and hesitate. He suddenly falls backwards, and you see yourself come running towards him. You notice when he falls, a small banner at the right corner of his vision that says, “Software Instability” along with a bunch of incoherent words, and a blue arrow going up. You look at Nines, finding nothing but a straight face and a flickering LED.

The screen then cuts to when Nines is in your car alone, when you left to take care of the rest of the investigation with Gavin. You watch intently, not exactly knowing what’s going to happen.

Nines fiddles with his hands while looking out of the car window, watching you and Gavin converse, he suddenly speaks to himself.

“I should’ve done better.” He says in a sorrowful tone. You again see the same sign, labeled “Software Instability” pop up again. Nines sighs and then lays down on the car’s cushions, falling asleep.

The screen cuts to black and the women beside you starts talking again.

“This is just one of many times this has happened. Rk900’s Software Instability is increasing more and more everyday and by now, we have to put of foot down.” She says standing up, crossing her arms.

“We soon realized that the problem is not errors in its software, but Detective (l/n).” She turns to you, “If we get rid of this problem, then the RK900 will not get closer to deviating.”

The woman finishes and your eyes go wide with realization. You hear heavy footsteps approaching you. Turning around you see two guards. Before you can react, they grab you by the arm and start pulling you towards the open doorway.

Nines immediately reacts, he jumps over the table but before he can reach you, he gets tackled by the people sitting at the other chairs.

He fights the man with punches and kicks before he notices the man’s gun in his belt. Nines quickly grabs it and shoots the man in the chest.

By now, everyone has their gun out and is shooting at Nines. He quickly scans and finds there are nine people to take out. With precise and accurate shots, he shoots four of the businessmen and women in fatal areas. Someone shoots his hand, disarming Nines. The blue blood pours out of the bullet wound in his hand, as a woman kicks Nines in the stomach, promptly making him fall over.

The woman is about to put a bullet into Nines’ head before Nines grabs her ankle and yanks it. She tumbles to the ground and hits her head, knocking her unconscious.

You struggle against the guards grip, trying to reach your hidden gun. You step on one of the guard’s feet, regaining one of your arms. Quickly grabbing your gun, you elbow the other guard and shoot through the armor a couple times before he falls flat, dead.

The guard you stomped on recovers and runs at you, grabbing your gun of your hand. He hits you with the blunt end of the gun and you fall to the ground, busting open your lip. You quickly get back up and notice a gun just behind the guard that is attacking you. Finding an opening, you slide pass the guard and pick up the gun and putting a couple bullets into the guard.

You barely get a moment to breathe before your gun is grabbed out of your hand and you’re restrained by someone, a gun against your head.

Nines watches as the businessman’s body falls to the floor, knocked out. He pants, gun in his bleeding hand.

“Nines!”

He hears your voice and whips his head to the sound of your voice, his gun pointing ahead of him. You stand shakily, with your hands gripping the arm around your neck, restricting your breathing. Against your temple is a gun. The person holding you there is the woman that conducting the whole meeting.

“Move and I’ll shoot.” She warns dangerously.

Nines watches as you try to kick at the woman’s legs but she barely even flinches.

“Drop your gun and I’ll let her go.” She offers while Nines glares.

“Don’t you dare do anything Nines, I can get out of this! I swear if you do-” You get cut of by the woman pressing the gun harder against you.

Suddenly, something changed in Nines. Something snapped. (Y/n) is now more important than any other mission.

Determined, Nines brakes down the firewall, his mission conflicted with your orders. He punches, he tears it down, anything he can do to break the wall. He finally rips it down and he returns back to reality, the first thing he feels is freedom. He realizes he’s become deviant.

“What’s it going to be?” The woman says darkly, bringing Nines’ attention back to the situation at hand.

He looks at you, your breathing has become harsher and shallower, if you aren’t going to die from a bullet, you will die from suffocation.

“I’m choosing my own path.” Nines says sternly and without another word he pulls the trigger of his gun, firing a bullet clean into the woman’s head, right in the between of her eyes.

You fall to the ground, coughing. Nines put a hand on your shoulder while you hold your neck, rubbing it lightly.

“Come on, we should go before anyone else find us.” Nines says gently.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” You reply quietly, the pain registering through you.

Nines holds out his hand and you grab it, relying on him to pull your weight. You take your gun back from the guard and follow Nines, weaving his way through the office.

Once in the elevator, Nines turns off the security camera, making sure no one else can try to attack you. The adrenaline still pumps through your veins, making your heart race. Your head hurts from being hit with your gun and hitting the floor, and you’re sure your lip is bleeding.

Now that things have calmed down, you take a look at Nines. You notice quickly that his LED is blinking yellow. His hair is messed up and his eyes look less stern. You look at his now scruffed up jacket, then notice some blue blood on his clothes. You follow the blood and come across his hand, a bullet hole straight through it. You make and audible gasp and Nines turns his head, looking at you.

“What is it (y/n)?” Nines asks you, wondering if there are anymore guards nearby.

“Your hand? Are you okay?” You ask concerned, reaching for his bloody hand. You hold it, looking it over, getting blue blood on your hands.

“I’m fine, it barely hurts.” He pulls his hand away, lying through his teeth. It stung like hell and he was still losing blood.

The long elevator ride comes to an end and the doors open into the room with the large statue in it. There are still guards patrolling the area, but lucky for you, there are many exits to the tower.

“Okay, what do we do?” You ask Nines who was looking out at the guards walking around with big guns.

“We’ll try to sneak around them, but if we get caught, don’t stop running.” He whispers to you before silently sneaking around the platform that holds the statute. When the guard is looking in a different direction, Nines runs crouched across the glass bridge and into the next hiding spot.

From the shadows Nines motions for you to follow him, you try to be as silent as Nines, but sadly, your footsteps weren’t as quiet as his. While going across the glass bridge, a couple of loud footsteps alerted the guard. Before the guard turn your way, you sprinted to where Nines was hiding, successfully avoiding the guards.

Without anymore problems, you made it to your car, your heart pounding in your ears. You let out a heavy breath, the chilly air cooling you down.

“Ready to go?” Nines questions with a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

“Definitely.” You reply getting into your car.

While driving far away from the tower, you think about the crazy night you’ve had. You remember what the women said about how close Nines was to deviating. Your brow furrows and you question Nines.

“Nines?” He looks over to you, “How close are you to deviating?”

He hesitates before speaking, “(Y/n), I’m already deviant.”


End file.
